Some 127 people have been arrested for food stamp fraud in recent months, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Nov. 20.
The USDA since February has made 127 arrests related to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud, a USDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. The USDA worked with its Office of Inspector General on the cases.
Those cases resulted in 63 convictions and fines and fees exceeding $16.5 million.
The agency declined to provide additional information.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who earlier in November said that dozens of arrests had taken place, stated during an appearance on NewsNation on Wednesday that federal officials, reviewing data provided by 29 states, found that there were 180,000 deceased individuals receiving food stamps and another 500,000 people receiving twice as much as they should have been receiving.
Rollins stressed that the other 21 states have not provided information to the USDA.
"We believe there's even more fraud and abuse," she said.
She added later that "we have to make sure for those who really need this benefit that we are able to make sure that it's going to the right people," promising "structural changes" to the program and projecting a major announcement on that front during the week after Thanksgiving.
SNAP provides an average of $177 a month in benefits, delivered on electronic cards, to approximately 42 million Americans to spend on produce and other food items at participating stores.
Rollins also previously said that all SNAP recipients would need to reapply for benefits, as officials look to make sure recipients meet income and other eligibility requirements.
The audits of the 29 states are “going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program, have everyone reapply for their benefit, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through SNAP or food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable, and they can’t survive without it," she said on Nov. 14.
The USDA had declined to provide additional details on the plan.
“We really want to make sure those who are receiving this supplemental nutrition benefit—it was never meant for the long term—are really those who need it,” Rollins said on NewsNation on Wednesday.
“Whatever that reapplication looks like again, we’re working on that right now, but it won’t be too onerous. And for the families that really need it, we'll make sure that they're going to get it.”
State officials are already required to verify participants are eligible for food stamps periodically, usually every six or 12 months.
Most of the $10.5 billion in food stamps improperly paid to people in fiscal year 2023 stemmed from states not verifying the eligibility of recipients for the program, including whether recipients were U.S. citizens or immigrants legally present in the country, the Government Accountability Office said in a report.
The One Big Beautiful Act, signed by President Donald Trump over the summer, imposed new requirements for SNAP eligibility, including removing the eligibility for certain groups of immigrants.