MINNESOTA (FOX 9) – SNAP benefits in Minnesota will continue to be funded after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction filed by the state’s attorney general.

This comes after President Trump’s administration threatened to withhold federal funds that make the program possible. 

Court blocks USDA demand for in-person interviews of SNAP recipients

Big picture view:

Back in December 2025, Trump administration officials said states who refuse to comply with federal reporting standards risk losing SNAP funding.

Those reporting standards included conducting in-person interviews with SNAP recipients.

Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit on Dec. 23 challenging the USDA’s demand, which he described as impossible. The Trump administration continued to threaten to cut off Minnesota’s SNAP funding unless the state complied.

However, a U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota issued a preliminary injunction to block the implementation of the new reporting standards, preventing the state from losing SNAP administration funding.

The judge said Minnesota must file its plan of operation and file a declaration identifying the harm that the USDA would cause by withholding this federal money for the first quarter of 2026.

By the numbers:

State officials said Minnesota has about 450,000 people who rely on SNAP benefits each month, including 180,000 children, 70,000 seniors and 50,000 adults with disabilities.

In May 2025, data showed that 7.8% of the population participates in the program – a total of 451,966 people.

Minnesota Attorney General response 

What they’re saying:

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison shared the following statement: 

“We have won yet another battle in the Trump administration’s war on Minnesota. Before any of us in the state are Republicans or Democrats, we are Minnesotans, and it should shock and disgust us that this president is trying to take food off the table of half a million of our neighbors. I’m pleased to have stopped this from happening, and I will continue to do everything in my power to stand up to the Trump administration when they try to harm the people of Minnesota.”

A federal judge ruled Friday that agents carrying out the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration operation in Minnesota can’t arrest or deploy certain crowd-control measures against anyone “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.” The order comes as outcry continues to build over two shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis over the course of a week.

The new restrictions on federal agents also come amid word that the Department of Justice is investigating Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over possible obstruction of federal law enforcement, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The probe raises the possibility of criminal consequences for the two Democratic leaders, who have openly rebuked the surge of federal activity that began last month.

Groups of protesters continued to decry the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis during the day and into the night Friday, despite frigid temperatures. Demonstrations intensified last week after 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good was fatally shot in her car by an ICE agent, and again a week later when another agent shot and injured a Venezuelan man accused of “violently” resisting arrest, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Federal agents working in the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota are not allowed to arrest or retaliate against peaceful protesters or use “pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools” against them, US District Judge Katherine Menendez ruled in a preliminary injunction issued Friday.

Menendez also said the agents can no longer stop and detain drivers when there is “no reasonable articulable suspicion” they are forcibly obstructing or interfering with federal operations. “The act of safely following” the officers, “at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” the judge added.

The order only applies in Minnesota and only to agents involved in the current operation, and does not apply to other federal officers handling routine duties elsewhere, the order specified.

In a response to the ruling, the Department of Homeland Security said it is “taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that despite these threats, agents follow training and use “the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.”

The preliminary injunction was requested by activists who filed a lawsuit last month alleging the federal government was violating their constitutional rights. The case is separate from a different lawsuit filed by Minnesota and the Twin Cities on Monday seeking a court-ordered end to what it calls a “federal invasion” during Operation Metro Surge.

With protests expected to continue, here’s what else to know:

ST. PAUL — Public safety leaders in Minnesota on Friday, Jan. 16, called on those planning to participate in protests in Minneapolis this weekend to be peaceful, while emphasizing that resources are being prepared to enforce the law if there is any threat to public safety.

National Guard troops will be available to support local law enforcement agencies, Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the

Department of Public Safety

and Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke of the

Minnesota Army National Guard

told reporters during a briefing.

Jacobson urged those planning to participate in demonstrations to show others that Minnesota is a safe place.

“I’m counting on those who are going to be in attendance at these locations to keep the peace, to show others that Minnesota is a safe place where people can demonstrate, can share their opinions and their voices without having any violence.”

The commissioner said local law enforcement will be joined by state and other public safety agencies and will be a visible presence at the demonstrations. Law enforcement will have a “large complement” of officers at the scene, he said.

Jacobson said soldiers with the Guard will be staged in a way that they can respond quickly if needed. Troops were available in the same way last weekend as well, but were not called on, he said. The commissioner said that he is optimistic that demonstrations will be peaceful and soldiers will not be called.

Conservative influencer Jake Lang promoted a “March Against Minnesota Fraud” protest outside of Minneapolis City Hall on Saturday, Jan. 17, according to published reports. Law enforcement officers would be on location to protect the nearby Cedar Riverside neighborhood as well.