How have recent 2023–2025 policy changes and major prosecutions affected SNAP fraud enforcement?

1. Policy shifts tightened who stays on SNAP — and shifted enforcement incentives

Since the FRA/2023 rulemaking and implementation of OBBBA in 2025, federal rules expanded ABAWD work requirements (new monthly activity thresholds) and altered non‑citizen eligibility, while creating new state matching and quality‑control financial incentives that make states share more fiscal risk for error rates ^{[1] [2]}. Those statutory and regulatory changes increase administrative scrutiny (recertifications, data checks) and create incentives for states to remove or verify recipients quickly to avoid potential financial penalties ^{[2] [1]}.

2. USDA launched aggressive data pulls and public claims — raising privacy and accuracy disputes

The USDA requested detailed beneficiary data from many states and ran it through tools like SAVE to flag possible duplicate or deceased recipients; the department publicly described large numbers of “dead” and double‑enrolled cases, and said it led to arrests and prosecutions ^{[7] [8]}. State attorneys general and civil‑rights litigants contested the data demands; courts temporarily blocked enforcement against states that refused to hand over data, citing privacy and legality concerns ^{[9] [7]}.

3. Enforcement escalated into coordinated federal operations and prosecutions

The USDA’s Special Investigations Unit, working with Homeland Security Investigations and the Secret Service, took part in targeted operations in 2025 aimed at EBT theft, surveilling retailers and making arrests in schemes such as card cloning and trafficking — explicitly framed as a top priority by USDA leadership ^{[3] [10]}. Agency materials and press reports show the administration presented these actions as evidence it was “fighting back” against SNAP fraud ^{[3] [8]}.

4. Numbers are contested: reported fraud jumps, but methodology and coverage vary

USDA‑released figures showed large increases in reported fraudulent claims and transactions in early FY2025 including 226,000 claims and more than $102 million in stolen benefits in Q1 2025, but outlets and analysts caution the figures reflect states’ varying reports, include different categories (e.g., unauthorized transactions vs. recipient eligibility), and do not by themselves prove systemic criminality among recipients ^{[4] [11] [5]}. GAO reported USDA estimated an 11.7% improper payment rate for FY2023 (about $10.5 billion), signaling persistent measurement and control challenges ^[5].

5. Critics warn policy changes conflate legitimate removals with criminal enforcement

Advocates and some analysts say many of the large headline figures reflect administrative churn from tightened rules and data‑matching — not arrests — and that only a small number of prosecutions have resulted so far, raising the question whether new policies are being used to shrink caseloads rather than to target criminal networks exclusively ^{[6] [5]}. Protect Democracy and other critics flagged the USDA’s data requests as potentially serving political narratives about fraud ^{[6] [7]}.

6. States and governors report operational strain and patchwork responses

Governors’ offices and state human services officials told the National Governors Association and other forums that EBT cards lack consistent security features, that cross‑state trafficking and international criminal schemes complicate enforcement, and that states need federal technological help (pilots for upgraded cards were noted) and cross‑jurisdictional coordination for prosecutions ^[12]. The OBBBA also shifts costs and penalties to states, increasing pressure to act on suspected fraud quickly ^[2].

7. What this means on the ground: more audits, fewer benefits for some, but limited prosecutions

Available reporting shows intensified audits, mass recertifications, and data‑matching leading to many households being removed or forced to reapply; USDA touts “dozens” of arrests while critics note prosecutions remain limited compared with the large numbers of flagged records ^{[8] [6]}. GAO and reporting suggest large improper payment estimates persist, but measuring fraud vs. error remains complex ^{[5] [11]}.

8. Open questions and reporting limitations

Available sources do not provide a definitive national tally linking the new rules directly to changes in prosecution rates, nor do they reconcile USDA headline counts with case‑level prosecution data; GAO says improper payment issues remain open and measurement challenges persist ^[5]. Independent verification of some USDA claims — for example, precise counts of deceased or double‑enrolled people and how many led to criminal convictions — is not found in current reporting ^{[6] [13]}.

Conclusion: Federal policy changes from 2023–2025 created stronger administrative levers and financial incentives that pushed states toward stricter verification and recertification; USDA paired that with higher‑visibility enforcement operations. Reported fraud numbers and prosecutions rose in some accounts, but watchdogs, courts, and state officials dispute the scope, legality and interpretation of the datasets and the balance between rooting out criminal networks and displacing needy households ^{[1] [3] [5] [7]}.