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The massive Somali-orchestrated welfare fraud in Minnesota grew so big, even the New York Times had to cover it.
The takeaways are delicious: an indictment of sloppy Democrat-run Big Government, a repudiation of immigration policies that favor groups that decline to assimilate and that in some cases embrace anti-U.S. sentiment and exposing Governor Tim Walz for the lightweight he is.
Over several years, a cabal of (mostly) Somali refugees in Minnesota pulled off a giant heist of the state’s funds, embarrassing Democrat officials and highlighting once again the fraud that permeates our welfare programs. It was a theft so mammoth that hundreds of employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services wrote anonymously on X that Walz, who served as Vice President Kamala Harris‘ running mate in 2024, “has failed Minnesota” and added, “Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota.”
No wonder the liberal media has been mostly mute about the multiyear scandal that the Times describes as “staggering in its scale and brazenness,” and that resulted in the loss of more than$1 billion of taxpayer funds. That’s as much, the Times notes, as Minnesota spends annually on its Department of Corrections.
Most likely the Times would not have weighed in on the scandal if not for the story published in the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal last month by writers Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo, who claimed that some of the funds stolen from Minnesota’s welfare programs had gone to fund al-Shabab, a Somali terrorist organization. The Times dismisses that charge, writing that “there has been no solid evidence to substantiate it, and none of the federal fraud cases have featured a link to terrorism.” Rufo and Thorpe claim otherwise, quoting one confidential source as telling them, “The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”
The Times was also likely pushed to report on the scandal by President Donald Trump, who denounced the theft of welfare funds on Truth Social, writing “Minnesota, under Governor Walz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.” He further raged, “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER! President DJT.”
TREASURY SECRETARY LAUNCHES PROBE INTO MINNESOTA TAX DOLLARS ALLEGEDLY FUNDING AL-SHABAAB TERRORISTS
In addition, President Trump announced he would be terminating the Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota. There are some 76,000 people of Somali ancestry in the state, many of whom received temporary protected status when they immigrated to the U.S. during the civil war in the 1990s. Apparently, there are only 705 enrolled in the TPS program today.
The scandal, once thought to be yet another “one-off abuse during a health emergency” as the Times puts it, has been under investigation by federal prosecutors since the early days of the pandemic. So far, they have charged 86 people with committing felonies and convicted 59. All but eight are Somalis.
There were at least three schemes carried out to defraud Minnesota authorities. The first was under the umbrella of a children’s meals program called “Feeding Our Future.” The non-profit teamed up with local Somali-owned businesses, supposedly feeding tens of thousands of children, but, in reality, submitting bogus reimbursement claims and defrauding the state. In 2021, Feeding Our Future received almost $200 million in funding.
Feeding Our Future was not the only criminal enterprise illegally draining Minnesota’s welfare piggy bank. Another scheme stole federally funded health care benefits from the state’s Housing Stability Services Program. That initiative was designed to help seniors and people struggling with mental health problems and addiction to find housing.
Instead, the fraudsters found people who might have been eligible for the program from facilities like rehab centers and submitted fake reimbursement claims on their behalf. Initially predicted to cost some $2.6 million per year, the claims soared from $21 million in 2021 to $104 million last year.
MINNESOTA TAXPAYER DOLLARS FUNNELED TO AL-SHABAAB TERROR GROUP, REPORT ALLEGES
As he charged eight people with wire fraud in September, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said, “I want to be clear on the scope of the crisis. What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes, draining resources meant for those in need… I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away…”
Perhaps the cruelest of the thefts was involved a perpetrator named Asha Farhan Hassan, who targeted a Minnesota Health Care Program offering medical services to young people with autism.
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As described by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “Hassan and her partners approached parents in the Somali community to recruit their children…Where a child did not have an autism diagnosis and an individual treatment plan, HASSAN and her partners worked with a QSP to get the recruited child qualified for autism services.”
The fraudsters allegedly paid parents kickbacks of approximately $300 to $1,500 per month. In all, prosecutors say, Hassan and her partners in crime raked in some $14 million, some of which she used to buy property in Kenya.
Why didn’t Minnesota authorities crack down sooner on the blatant theft? Reportedly they were afraid of offending the Somali community, which constitutes a solid voting bloc for Walz and his Democrat colleagues. As one local politician put it, “If you don’t win the Somali community, you can’t win Minneapolis. And if you don’t win Minneapolis, you can’t win the state. End of story.”
In 2020, when Minnesota officials raised questions about Feed Our Future’s alarming expansion, the alleged crooks sued, charging racial discrimination. Of course.
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This is not the first instance of Democrats ignoring abuse of our generous welfare programs. In addition to fighting DOGE tooth and nail, several blue states have refused in recent months to turn over information about food stamp or Social Security benefits, preventing the federal government from investigating allegations of fraud. It is unconscionable.
Maybe the blatant theft exposed in Minneapolis will make taxpayers demand more accountability. Maybe they will, at the least, deny Tim Walz a third term as governor.
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