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Fact check: Number of illegal immigrants on snap
Executive Summary
The available federal data and recent reporting show that roughly 1.46–1.5 million noncitizens received SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits in fiscal year 2022, but the official statistics do not and cannot reliably identify how many of those recipients were undocumented; undocumented immigrants are generally barred from SNAP but may live in SNAP-participating households as non-participating members [1]. Recent administrative actions and litigation in 2025 have focused on tightening verification and collecting immigration-related information, but these developments address enforcement and state procedures rather than producing a national count of undocumented SNAP recipients [2] [3].
1. What proponents and critics actually claimed: sorting the competing statements
Public claims often assert a simple number of “illegal immigrants on SNAP,” but the underlying sources present a more complex picture. Reporters and analysts repeatedly note a headline figure of about 1.5 million noncitizens receiving benefits in FY2022, yet the federal tally groups lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, and other authorized immigrants together with any unauthorized noncitizen who might be ineligible but associated with a household. The mismatch between political rhetoric and granular data arises because federal SNAP administrative records capture citizenship status categories imperfectly and are not designed to enumerate undocumented status directly, so claims that assert a specific count of undocumented SNAP recipients overstate what the data can show [1].
2. What the federal data actually say and where the uncertainty lies
USDA and related reporting present 1.465–1.5 million noncitizens receiving Food Stamp benefits in FY2022, totaling about $4.2 billion in benefits paid to those recipients. Those figures come from administrative records classifying beneficiaries as noncitizens without distinguishing lawful from unlawful status in public reporting. Federal law bars undocumented immigrants from receiving SNAP benefits, which creates a legal baseline: most noncitizen beneficiaries captured in the count are likely to be lawful permanent residents, refugees, or other authorized migrants eligible under federal rules. The data do, however, include the possibility that an undocumented person living in a SNAP household contributes to household eligibility or benefit calculations without being a direct recipient on the benefit record, generating measurement ambiguity [1].
3. Why household composition muddles any effort to count “illegal immigrants on SNAP”
SNAP eligibility and benefit amounts are determined at the household level, meaning non-participating household members who are undocumented may be present in households that receive benefits, even though those individuals cannot legally receive benefits themselves. Administrative benefit rolls therefore capture the household as the unit of assistance while public reporting often lists individuals categorized as noncitizens among recipients; this creates a gap between legal eligibility, administrative recording, and public interpretation. Academic research underscores that policy environments — such as sanctuary policies — change enrollment patterns without altering legal eligibility, further complicating efforts to attribute benefit receipt to immigration status alone [4] [1].
4. Recent policy moves and litigation that change verification but not the underlying population count
In 2025 the USDA directed states to tighten SNAP verification to prevent undocumented persons from receiving benefits, citing executive guidance; the agency’s memo prompted debate about whether improper payments stem more from fraud or from program complexity and confusion. New York’s attorney general and other jurisdictions filed suit against requirements to collect immigration status information for low-income families seeking SNAP, arguing such rules target undocumented immigrants and exceed legal authority. Those administrative and legal developments influence how states verify and record eligibility, and could alter future documentation and compliance practices, but they do not retroactively create a validated national count of undocumented SNAP recipients for past years [2] [3].
5. The bottom line: what can be stated with confidence and what remains unknown
Factually, federal reporting shows around 1.46–1.5 million noncitizens received SNAP benefits in FY2022 and undocumented immigrants are broadly ineligible for SNAP; beyond that, the exact number of undocumented individuals who have benefited directly from SNAP cannot be determined from public administrative data. Claims asserting a precise count of “illegal immigrants on SNAP” extend beyond what the available evidence supports. Policymakers and reporters can reduce confusion by distinguishing between noncitizen beneficiaries (an observable category) and undocumented individuals (a category not directly observable in public SNAP reporting), and by clarifying whether references are to households versus individual recipients [1].