News Releases

Attorney General Jones Permanently Blocks Trump Administration's SNAP Penalties 

Multi-state coalition also secures ruling allowing Virginians to remain eligible for food assistance 

RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jones announced that a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon has permanently blocked the Trump administration from penalizing states, including Virginia, with steep fines tied to their administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

“Food insecurity has hit Virginians across the Commonwealth in all types of communities, with Donald Trump’s ongoing war on struggling families. Protecting access to this critical program for our most vulnerable was a day one priority of my administration that I am proud to deliver on,” said Attorney General Jones. “Virginians are already stretching paychecks as far as they can and while Donald Trump might not care about the impact the cost crisis is having on them, this office does. We will not stop fighting for the programs and agencies created to support our most vulnerable Virginians.” 

Oregon and New York co-led the 22-state coalition that brought the case. The ruling makes permanent a preliminary injunction the court issued in December 2025 and goes further: the judge sided with Virginia and the coalition on every claim, striking down both the administration's fine-triggering deadline and its guidance restricting food assistance for lawful permanent residents.

In November 2025, a coalition of 21 attorneys general and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration after it moved to cut off SNAP benefits for tens of thousands of lawful permanent residents and set a retroactive deadline that put states at risk of paying hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties. The Commonwealth joined New York v. Rollins in January of 2026 as part of a comprehensive, 30-day review of existing litigation. 

The administration later reversed its position on eligibility for lawful permanent residents but continued to argue that states owed fines for missing a "grace period" that, in practice, had already expired before the administration finished issuing guidance on the changes. 

The court found that the administration's deadline was unlawful and arbitrary, and that the administration's guidance improperly excluded certain lawful permanent residents, including former refugees and people granted asylum, from food assistance they are legally entitled to receive. In addition, the court found that the administration’s deadline was unlawful as it related to other changes to SNAP eligibility calculations from the 2025 Republican budget bill.  

The decision makes it clear that:  

•  States cannot be penalized under the unlawful deadline the administration tried to impose. 

•  The standard five-year waiting period for SNAP does not apply to lawful permanent residents who were previously refugees, asylees, or other humanitarian immigrants. 

Published on: September 23, 2026

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