A federal operation to crack down on food stamp fraud in New York City has identified 170 retailers guilty of violations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent investigators into all of New York City's five boroughs, according to Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins on September 18. They scrutinized everything from grocery stores to convenience stores to bodegas, engaging in hundreds of different investigations.

Ultimately, Rollins announced, the USDA in Operation SNAP Back confirmed that 170 retailers in the city have definitely committed violations of rules regarding federal taxpayer-funded food benefits. These violations include illegally accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for ineligible items such as alcohol. Other retailers were trafficking SNAP benefits in exchange for cash.

Federally-funded food stamps are unconstitutional, but like all welfare programs, they are also inherently highly vulnerable to fraud. As soon as you hand millions of people money they didn't earn, many of them are likely to abuse the privilege. That's human nature. It's why the Founding Fathers were opposed to generational welfare of the sort America has now. 

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Rollins commented, “This is about protecting two groups of people: families who rely on SNAP to put food on the table — and the hardworking taxpayers who fund it.” She continued:

Since the start of the Trump Administration, we have already:

➡️ Stopped more than $5.8 BILLION in fraud

➡️ Suspended or disqualified nearly 6,000 retailers

➡️ Disabled or blocked more than 2,000 illegal point-of-sale devices

The message is simple: if you steal from American taxpayers or exploit a program meant to feed vulnerable families, we are coming after the fraud.

One of the problems with SNAP is that millions of people who use it are illegal aliens. There’s also the fact that some people use it as a source of income their entire lives, without ever intending to get a job. “SNAP benefits should go to Americans, not fraudsters or illegal immigrants,” said White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud Executive Director Scott Brady. “And thanks to Secretary Rollins, such waste and abuse will stop.”

SNAP use is way out of control in America. Nearly 37 million people are on SNAP in the U.S., according to American Default Research, while the USDA put the number even higher at over 40 million. And while over 30% of citizens households use either SNAP or WIC, about 47% of noncitizen households use the programs. And the USDA has found that people on SNAP are more likely to be obese. The program is simply fueling government dependency, fraud, and unhealthy living rather than saving starving children.