In November 2025, a claim spread across social media saying U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins had uncovered major fraud inside the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Posts popped up on Threads, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok, all pushing the same message that half a million people were double-enrolled in SNAP and that 5,000 dead people were still collecting benefits.
One Threads user even posted a clip from Rollins’ Fox News interview with the caption, “BREAKING: In a jaw-dropping revelation, Sec. Brooke Rollins found 5,000 DEAD PEOPLE getting SNAP, and 500,000 PEOPLE getting SNAP ‘2 times under the same name.’”
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SNAP serves nearly 42 million people, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2024, the average benefit was around $187 per month. The program mainly helps seniors, people with disabilities and families who need support buying basic groceries.
During a Nov. 12 appearance on Fox News with Laura Ingraham, Rollins said her department found “Half a million people getting benefits two times under the same name. 5,000 dead people,” based on data collected from 29 states. The next day on Newsmax, she upped the number dramatically, saying the real figure was closer to 186,000 dead recipients and that the 5,000 number represented only one month.
When Snopes asked the USDA to provide data that could verify her claims, the agency didn’t release anything specific. Instead, a spokesperson sent a general statement saying that Secretary Rollins wants to stop fraud, waste and abuse and that the administration is recertifying households and analyzing state data. The USDA did not give any figures that could confirm the numbers Rollins cited.
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The agency’s reference to “recertification processes” matched what Rollins told Newsmax, that USDA planned to have everyone reapply for benefits as part of a fraud crackdown. But without access to the data she says the USDA reviewed, her claims could not be independently verified.
There is government data showing SNAP has struggled with improper payments. These include both underpayments and overpayments. The Government Accountability Office reported that SNAP’s improper payment rate in fiscal year 2023 was 11.7 percent, roughly $10.5 billion. Over the past two decades, SNAP has paid an estimated $2.7 trillion in improper payments. USDA’s own SNAP scorecard showed about $9 billion in improper payments in 2024.
That represented about 10.3 percent of the total. Still, none of these reports break down how many mistakes came from double enrollment or dead recipients remaining in the system. The GAO said improper payments often happened because states did not verify eligibility, which could include those scenarios but doesn’t confirm them.
Rollins said the USDA asked states for data on her first day in office in February 2025 and that 29 states eventually complied. The agency formally requested the data in May 2025, saying it needed identifying information, Social Security numbers and the total value of benefits received since 2020.
The request set off a legal battle. Twenty states sued the USDA in July 2025, saying the demand violated privacy and security laws. Pennsylvania joined later, bringing the total to 21. A federal judge then temporarily blocked the USDA from threatening to withhold SNAP funds from states that refused to hand over the data. The broader question of whether the USDA can require this information remains unresolved.
Rollins has continued to repeat the fraud claims while also stating that SNAP “increased by 40%” under President Joe Biden, a claim that has already been fact-checked and found misleading. Without detailed data from the USDA, her numbers remain unconfirmed even as the political fight grows louder. You do not have enough Humanizer words left. Upgrade your Surfer plan.
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