President Trump is ending the gravy train of fraud in Minnesota, much of it perpetrated by Somalis relocated here and some of the money funding terrorism back in Africa. Trump vows to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis, which has lasted many years longer than intended.
Trump’s acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Joseph H. Thompson, recently indicted six from Somalia and two others for wire fraud. They allegedly defrauded Minnesota’s Medicaid-funded housing stabilization program.
This comes after 56 people, mostly from Somalia, pled guilty in connection with a federal investigation into a Minnesota nonprofit organization called Feeding Our Future. Even the Washington Post Editorial Board expressed its outrage at the vast extent of fraud in this state run by Governor Tim Walz, who was the Democrats’ Vice Presidential nominee last November.
Trump observes that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of dollars are missing. Send them back where they came from.”
A total of 78 defendants associated with Feeding Our Future have been charged with crimes. In just two years, the organization increased its take of government funding from $3 million in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021. Meanwhile, Medicaid payments on autism claims increased by $200 million in Minnesota between 2020 and 2024, and federal charges have been filed based on alleged kickbacks to the Somali community.
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S., who were settled here under the TPS program and among whom many have become American citizens. Earlier Trump terminated the TPS program for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians.
It was over 30 years ago that an ill-advised President George H.W. Bush brought Somalis into our country under this temporary program, beginning in 1991. No “temporary” program should last more than three decades as this one has.
Acting U.S. Attorney John Thompson is an experienced career prosecutor, and he sounds just like the Trump appointees as he uproots fraud by immigrants that is bleeding our scarce government resources. He estimates that the defrauding of government programs in Minnesota exceeds $1 billion.
“It’s an extraordinary problem, the fraud that’s pervasive in this state,” Thompson told a news station in an interview in July. A Somali American former investigator confirmed this problem in an article published in the Minnesota Reformer.
“Minnesota’s public programs don’t adequately guard against organization fraud,” the Somali American said. He added that many Somalis are “skilled professionals whose experience and education credentials are not recognized in the U.S.”
“Somalis inherently trust one another. This creates a vast opening for fraudsters,” he continued.
Decades ago Phyllis Schlafly criticized the lack of assimilation by refugees and other immigrants in our country. The fraudulent conduct worsens because tribal behavior dominates in these non-assimilated communities, rather than a competitive market that helps keep participants honest.
Many millions of these dollars stolen from the government in Minnesota are funneled to Al-Shabaab back in Somalia. Al-Shabaab seeks to impose strict Sharia Law in Somalia, and is affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda.
The City Journal quotes a former official who worked on the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force to say, “Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities [Minneapolis-St. Paul], in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way.”
“The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” observed another expert on terrorism quoted by the City Journal.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who is a Republican congressman from Minnesota, demanded on Monday that there be an investigation into this. “Minnesota has become the land of 10,000 frauds under Tim Walz,” declared Rep. Emmer in a play on its “10,000 lakes” nickname.
News that stolen taxpayer dollars are funding Al-Shabaab terrorists “is not only a grave national security concern, it’s a slap in the face to the hardworking, law-abiding people of Minnesota,” Rep. Emmer said.
Located in East Africa on the equator, Somalian temperatures commonly exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and its capital, Mogadishu, has been called the world’s most dangerous city. It was senseless for Somalis ever to be relocated to the cold climate and different culture of Minnesota in the first place.
But so many Somalis have resettled now in Minnesota that they have oversized political clout in elections there. “If you don’t win the Somali community, you can’t win Minneapolis,” observed former Minnesota state senator David Gaither. “And if you don’t win Minneapolis, you can’t win the state,” he added.
Amid all this fraud, Gov. Tim Walz seeks reelection to a third term as governor of Minnesota. Republicans are campaigning against him on this issue of rampant fraud under Walz’s watch.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.