Overview
- Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia filed suit in D.C. court on Monday seeking an injunction or vacatur of the rule that would require states to hand over expanded TANF data to federal agencies.
- The Administration for Children and Families rule announced in June and set to take effect on Aug. 11 would ask states to provide Social Security numbers, country of origin, immigration status and residential addresses for TANF recipients.
- Plaintiffs argue the rule exceeds federal authority, breaks the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause, risks violating a range of federal privacy protections, and would impose new administrative costs on states.
- The administration says the change is needed to verify compliance and detect fraud by checking TANF records against DHS and USCIS databases.
- The court fight could halt the rule before implementation and shape how agencies may share benefit data going forward with possible effects on enrollment and on mixed‑status immigrant households.