Michelle Obama Does Not Sound Well
That she squanders her time with personal complaints about having to buy food in the White House and public commentary about not wanting a son who would turn out like her husband suggests she is not well.That she squanders her time with personal complaints about having to buy food in the White House and public commentary about not wanting a son who would turn out like her husband suggests she is not well.States Have No Incentive To Stop Food Stamp Fraudsters From Stealing Your Money
The DOJ discovered millions of dollars in fraud hidden in false food stamp reporting.Trump admin making sure illegal aliens don't get food stamps
The Trump administration is working to eliminate the monetary incentive for foreign nationals to steal into the country and to pressure noncitizens presently exploiting citizen supports to wean off or get packing.
Pursuant to President Donald Trump's Feb. 19 executive order "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders," the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now taking steps to ensure that illegal aliens cannot get their hands on food stamps.
"President Trump has made it clear that American taxpayers will no longer subsidize illegal aliens," USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a Thursday statement.
"We are stewards of taxpayer dollars, and it is our duty to ensure states confirm the identity and verify the immigration status of SNAP applicants," continued Rollins. "USDA's nutrition programs are intended to support the most vulnerable Americans. To allow those who broke our laws by entering the United States illegally to receive these benefits is outrageous."
The USDA issued guidance on Thursday to state SNAP agencies nationwide setting out the minimum expectations for eligibility verification to prevent "ineligible aliens" from participating in the program.
Only American citizens and certain lawfully present noncitizens, including individuals granted asylum, are eligible for SNAP benefits. However, the U.S Government Accountability Office noted in a September 2024 report that an estimated 11.7% or $10.5 billion of SNAP benefits paid out by the USDA in fiscal year 2023 "were the wrong amount or otherwise should not have been made."
The report indicated that "states made improper payments related to SNAP mainly because they did not verify recipients' eligibility for program benefits." States apparently often failed to verify whether recipients were citizens or lawfully present noncitizens.
The Center for Immigration Studies revealed in a December 2023 report that 48% of "illegal-headed households" used food welfare programs.
'Taxpayer-funded benefits should be only for eligible taxpayers.'
As of 2022, American taxpayers were on the hook for at least $182 billion annually to provide services and benefits to illegal aliens and their dependents, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
The new USDA guidance requires state agencies to:
- verify the identity of the applicant, ideally before confirming their immigration status;
- collect and verify Social Security numbers for all household members applying for SNAP benefits;
- compare SSNs to the Social Security Agency's Death Master File database and ensure the SSN belongs to the applicant; and
- check alien applications against the Department of Homeland Security Systematic Alien Verification System for Entitlements — which DHS Secretary Kristi Noem advised governors last week is now available to states for free — to ensure eligibility.
The guidance provided other recommendations and advised state agencies that the Food and Nutrition Service "will assess the effectiveness of identity and immigration status verification practices in regular management evaluations for program compliance."
The USDA issued the new guidance just a week after Trump issued a memo directing his administration to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving taxpayer funds from Social Security Act programs, including Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Blaze News previously reported that the memo directed the Social Security Administration to expand its fraud prosecutor programs, investigate earning reports of individuals supposedly 100 years or older with mismatched records, consider reinstating its civil monetary penalty program, and reinforce program integrity measures so only eligible foreign nationals can receive benefits.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on April 15, "These taxpayer-funded benefits should be only for eligible taxpayers."
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4 Admissions Of Social Security Fraud In April Alone Show Waste And Abuse Are Real
While media cries about Trump eradicating fraud, and protesters punish Musk over DOGE findings, Social Security cons are plentiful.Utah requires app stores to verify ages in trailblazing child safety law
Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) signed new legislation on Wednesday that requires mobile app stores, including Apple and Google, to implement a user age verification process to protect children online.
The law, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler (R) and Rep. James Dunnigan (R), passed earlier this month. The bill takes effect on May 7.
'The apps are the first main gateway to how you protect children.'
Instead of age checks at app download, Utah's law mandates that app stores verify ages up front. The App Store Accountability Act, a first-of-its-kind law, requires providers to confirm users' age categories, secure parental consent for minors, and share that data with app developers. A minor may download or purchase an app or make in-app purchases only with consent from a linked parental account.
The act prohibits app stores from enforcing contracts against minors who did not receive parental consent or from "misrepresenting parental content disclosures."
Utah's Division of Consumer Protection has been tasked with establishing age verification standards.
Additionally, Utah's new legislation "creates a private right of action for parents of harmed minors," "provides a safe harbor for compliant developers," and "includes a severability clause."
The law permits parents to sue app providers that violate the act, claiming $1,000 per violation or actual damages.
Meta, X, and Snap Inc. issued a joint statement praising Utah's new legislation.
We applaud Governor Cox and the State of Utah for being the first in the nation to empower parents and users with greater control over teen app downloads, and urge other states to consider this groundbreaking approach. Parents want a one-stop-shop to oversee and approve the many apps their teens want to download, and Utah has led the way in centralizing it within a device's app store. This approach spares users from repeatedly submitting personal information to countless individual apps and online services. We are committed to safeguarding parents and teens, and look forward to seeing more states adopt this model.
A February report from the Wall Street Journal found that at least eight other states — Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, New Mexico, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia — were considering similar legislation.
Terry Schilling, the president of the American Principles Project, told Blaze News that Utah's new bill is "a very strong law" and a "good first step."
Schilling outlined the major threats facing children online.
"You want to protect children anywhere where people can get access to them," Schilling explained. "The apps are the first main gateway to how you protect children. So that's why I think it's a really great first step."
"Then next, we've got to start protecting kids from porn online directly by forcing the porn companies to do age verification," he continued, noting that 20 states have already implemented this requirement. "You've got to start protecting children and doing age verification for social media accounts in general."
Schilling told Blaze News that he anticipates that other states will soon enforce legislation similar to Utah's to protect children online.
"There is a huge movement of people in America that want to protect kids online, and it's now being translated to the political class — to the politicians and their staff," he said. "That is so critical and important to actually getting things done. You can't just change the culture or people's hearts and minds; you've actually got to legislate it."
Apple and Google did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Both have previously expressed privacy concerns regarding age verification laws for app stores.
Last month, Apple stated that “the right place to address the dangers of age-restricted content online is the limited set of websites and apps that host that kind of content.”
On March 12, Google’s director of public policy, Kareem Ghanem, stated, “These proposals introduce new risks to the privacy of minors, without actually addressing the harms that are inspiring lawmakers to act. Google is proposing a more comprehensive legislative framework that shares responsibility between app stores and developers and protects children’s privacy and the decision rights of parents.”
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