SNAP Benefits Go To 186,000 Dead People... And Stopping Them Might Be Difficult
Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,
President Donald Trump’s anti-fraud efforts have brought renewed focus on issues plaguing the welfare system, including the millions of dollars in food stamps that are being sent to dead recipients.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a report last month stating that 185,986 deceased people in 29 states were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as of July 1, 2025, at an annual cost of $419.6 million. It also reported an additional $3 billion in potential fraud, waste, and abuse.
On May 21, a federal jury convicted a man who stole the identity of Carlos Ramon Obregon, who was killed in a 1977 Los Angeles drive-by shooting. Decades after the 14-year-old’s death, the defendant used the dead teen’s identity to collect about $283,000 in government benefits, including SNAP benefits, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, and COVID-19 payments.
That’s just one example that the administration has outlined to highlight the issue. Here’s what to know about the problem of dead recipients, which has been lingering for decades.
Renewed Focus by Trump Admin
Trump directed federal agencies via executive order in March 2025 to ensure “unfettered access” to data from federally funded state programs such as SNAP, also known as food stamps.
In response, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service told state agencies on May 6, 2025, that all records associated with SNAP must be made available to the federal government.
“For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote in a letter to states.
Following the USDA’s demand for detailed information on food stamp recipients to review for fraud, a coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia filed a federal lawsuit against the USDA, accusing the agency of unlawfully demanding massive amounts of sensitive SNAP recipient data.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington on Feb. 17, 2026. The department reported in May that millions of dead people were receiving food stamp benefits. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
The July 2025 lawsuit, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, argued that the USDA was seeking unprecedented access to five years of personal information tied to millions of food assistance applicants, including Social Security numbers, home addresses, immigration status, and grocery transaction records.
The lawsuit led to an October 2025 court order allowing the opposing states to withhold the data requested by the federal government.
“Let’s be crystal clear: The president is trying to hijack a nutrition program to fuel his mass surveillance agenda,” Bonta said in a statement announcing the ruling.
He said that his state will “continue to vigorously litigate this lawsuit and defend [California] communities, protect privacy, and ensure that SNAP remains a tool for fighting hunger—not a weapon for political targeting.”
The USDA sent follow-up letters to 21 states that had not turned over state data on SNAP, asking them to comply.
The agency’s preliminary assessment, based on data provided by compliant states, indicated that “billions of dollars in federal funds may have been lost due to fraud or other errors undetected by States in their administration of SNAP,” the November 2025 letter states.
A USDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times that “by not sharing data, noncompliant states continue to prioritize criminals over the American taxpayer.”
“By simply sharing data, states can protect those most in need, get the criminals out, and save their hardworking taxpayers millions of dollars,” the spokesperson said.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks in Los Angeles on April 15, 2024. A July 2025 lawsuit led by Bonta pushed back on a USDA request for state information on millions of SNAP recipients. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
How Dead People End Up on Food Stamps
A 1998 Government Accountability Office report stated that agencies historically “rely primarily on unverified information on household membership” from food stamp applicants and participants.
That 1998 report found nearly 26,000 deceased individuals tied to SNAP benefits in four states in 1995 and 1996. The states reviewed were California, New York, Florida, and Texas. Estimated improper payments totaled $8.5 million.
According to the report, states did not always match recipients against Social Security death records. In multiperson households, deceased members sometimes remained on food stamp rolls after their demise, increasing benefits. In other cases, an individual continued fraudulently using the dead person’s identity.
Now, states have been told to check SNAP beneficiaries against death records.
A “We Accept (Food Stamps)” sign hangs in the window of a grocery store in Miami on Oct. 31, 2025. A new federal SNAP integrity team will analyze state data with the aim of ending fraud. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The USDA estimated that even after a state determined that a person receiving SNAP benefits had died, it could take an additional six to 12 months before benefits were discontinued. Commonly, states identify SNAP recipients as being on the Social Security Administration’s death master file, but they must conduct further research before they act on that information. Therefore, they wait several months until the dead recipient’s next recertification period to discontinue the benefit.
The USDA created its own SNAP integrity team in May 2025 to analyze data it receives from the states, along with all other available information, to end indiscriminate welfare fraud.
Rachel Sheffield, research fellow in welfare and family policy with The Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times that states need to take more accountability.
“Federal taxpayers fund SNAP, but states administer the program,” Sheffield said. “The chain of accountability is broken because states aren’t financially responsible when individuals remain on the rolls who shouldn’t be there.
“In fact, states receive more federal funding for every additional person enrolled. States should be held accountable for how they administer SNAP. Providing their data allows for transparency to taxpayers.”
Sheffield said the SNAP program should be reformed so that states are required to share in the cost.
A Houston resident holds a card identifying her as a SNAP beneficiary while she waits to get supplies from the Houston Food Bank Program at NRG Stadium in Houston on Nov 1, 2025. About 39 million people receive food stamps benefits each month, according to the USDA. Moisés Ávila/AFP via Getty Images
Long-Running Problem
Benefits fraud sometimes goes undetected for years or even decades.
In another high-profile case, federal prosecutors alleged in April that a Worcester, Massachusetts, man fraudulently collected SNAP benefits for years by using the identity of a deceased U.S. citizen from Puerto Rico.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the suspect—believed to actually be a citizen of the Dominican Republic—allegedly assumed the identity of a Puerto Rican man who died in 2006 and used it to obtain state identification documents, a Social Security card, and public benefits.
Prosecutors said the man collected more than $12,000 in SNAP benefits between 2022 and 2026, despite internal concerns raised by a state employee noting a possible “death match” tied to the Social Security number.
The case involving Obregon was used by the Trump administration to highlight the work of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which was created on April 7 by the Department of Justice.
Hurricane survivors receive food and water being given out by volunteers and municipal police in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 28, 2017. Dead people in the commonwealth received 150 million in Nutrition Assistance Program benefits between 2017 and 2024, Puerto Rico's comptroller recently reported. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The Justice Department on May 27 announced reforms to speed up the review of False Claims Act whistleblower complaints involving fraud in federally funded, state-run benefits programs.
The Civil Division will prioritize initial reviews within 60 to 120 days. Its aim is to quickly identify major fraud schemes, recover taxpayer money, and coordinate with criminal prosecutors and federal agencies under the administration’s broader anti-fraud enforcement initiative.
The federal government continues to take action against fraud.
The USDA Office of Inspector General is reviewing findings that Puerto Rico improperly paid about $150 million in Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to deceased individuals between 2017 and 2024. Those findings were reported in April by Puerto Rico’s comptroller.
Puerto Rico participates in the Nutrition Assistance Program, or NAP, which differs from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it operates as a federal block grant rather than a traditional SNAP entitlement program.