New Mexico Attorney General (AG) Raúl Torrez on Monday joined a coalition of AGs across the nation in suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over its allegedly “unconstitutional and unlawful” requirements that states receiving funding for two key food assistance programs cannot “promote gender ideology” or help “illegal aliens to obtain taxpayer-funded benefits.”
The lawsuit alleges that the USDA implemented new rules late last year for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), along with its supplemental program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which require states to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and to cease all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Among other points, the AGs argue that the USDA’s new rules are exceedingly vague and require funding recipients to comply with “federal anti-discrimination laws, regulations, and policies,” but neglect to specify the policies in question. Moreover, the attorneys general from 20 states and Washington, D.C., allege that the new rules force states to choose between feeding vulnerable populations and capitulating to the federal government’s demand for “sweeping changes” to state policies.
“These programs are essential to feeding New Mexico children, families, senior citizens and rural communities. Almost half a million New Mexicans rely on SNAP funding alone for family meals, and I will not stand by while this administration continues to attempt to take food from the tables of our working families,” Torrez said in a statement. “By implementing these completely unrelated conditions to this funding, the administration is illegally and deliberately withholding nutrition from New Mexicans in a time when our country is already struggling with rising costs. We should be expanding access to food assistance — not undermining it.”
Nationally, nearly 30 million children participate in a school lunch program, the lawsuit says.
SNAP has been a particular flashpoint for New Mexico’s state and federal officials during the second Trump administration, particularly during the government shutdown when the USDA said it had insufficient funds to pay for the benefit and the state committed $30 million to cover residents’ benefits. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also called a special session last October to address cuts to the program in the federal budget bill.
More than 450,000 New Mexicans rely on SNAP funding, according to state officials.
The New Mexico Department of Health and the state Health Care Authority declined to specify to Source NM if the Trump administration’s actions have affected SNAP or WIC benefits.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, says that the federal government allocated nearly $222 million to New Mexico for child nutrition programs in fiscal year 2025 and about $45 million for WIC programs in fiscal year 2024.
Torrez signed onto the suit along with AGs from Massachusetts, California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
