Trump’s attacks on Minnesota’s Somali community cast a spotlight on fraud cases

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – President Donald Trump has linked his administration’s immigration crackdown against Minnesota’s large Somali community to a series of fraud cases involving government programs in which many defendants have roots in the east African country.

Trump last week labeled Minnesota Somalis as “garbage” and said he didn’t want them in the U.S.

The president’s push comes as Republicans have stepped up their criticism of Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate, for his alleged failures in preventing the fraud. It’s already a major issue in the 2026 gubernatorial race as Walz seeks a third term.

Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S. About 84,000 of the 260,000 Somalis in the U.S. live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The overwhelming majority are American citizens. Almost 58% were born in the U.S and 87% of the foreign-born are naturalized citizens.

Here’s a look the fraud cases and some of the political impacts.

The extent of the losses from a series of major fraud cases being prosecuted by federal authorities in Minnesota isn’t certain. Prosecutors have put the losses from one case known as Feeding Our Future at $300 million alone.

In news interviews and press releases over the summer, prosecutor Joe Thompson estimated the total from all cases could exceed $1 billion. Republicans have seized on that number.

Walz said last week that an audit due by late January should give a better picture but allowed that the $1 billion figure could be accurate. He said his administration is taking aggressive action to prevent additional fraud. He has long defended how his administration responded.

The Feeding Our Future cased was named after the nonprofit that prosecutors say was at the heart of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud scam. It involved a state-run but federally funded program meant to feed children during the pandemic. The defendants collectively were accused of claiming to feed millions of meals to children but stealing the money instead.

The case broke in 2022, during President Joe Biden’s administration, when 47 people were charged. The number of defendants has grown to 78 throughout the ongoing investigation.

So far, 57 people have been convicted, either because they pleaded guilty or lost at trial. Thirteen are awaiting trial. Two people were acquitted, although one of those was convicted in a related juror bribery case. Five are fugitives and one is dead.

Eight others were charged in September for their alleged roles in a scheme to defraud federally funded health care benefits from the Minnesota Housing Stability Services Program. Two have already pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said it was just the first wave of charges.

“What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes, draining resources meant for those in need. It feels never ending.” Thompson said at the time. “I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away.”

A week later, prosecutors charged a woman in an autism program fraud scheme and indicated more would follow. She was charged earlier in the Feeding Our Future case.

“Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network,” Thompson said in another statement.

More than 90% of the people charged in those three cases are of Somali descent for a total of 86, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota.

That includes 72 of the 78 defendants in Feeding Our Future, though the alleged ringleader was a white American woman. Six of the eight defendants in the housing case are Somali, as is the one defendant who was charged in both the autism case and food fraud cases.

Minnesota’s most prominent Somali American, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, said on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday that it’s unfair to blame the entire community for the actions of a relative few. She said most are angry about the fraud.

“This also has an impact on Somalis, because we are also taxpayers in Minnesota,” Omar said. “We also could have benefited from the program and the money that was stolen.”

Omar accused Trump of “an unhealthy obsession” on the community and on her personally.

“I think it is also really important for us to remember that this kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president,” she said.

Trump launched his crackdown after conservative news outlet City Journal claimed that taxpayer dollars from defrauded programs have flowed to the militant group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaida.

But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent conceded on “Face The Nation” that investigators haven’t found any proof so far that the fraud proceeds are fueling terrorism.

Prosecutors have not charged any defendants in the fraud cases with providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations. In contrast, prosecutors have long been aggressive in filing terrorism charges against community members who allegedly tried to join or provide material support to al-Shabab or the Islamic State group.

“That’s why it’s an investigation. We started it last week. We’ll see where it goes,” Bessent said.

Omar countered that she’s confident that any links would have already resulted in charges.

“But if that is the case, if money from U.S. tax dollars is being sent to help with terrorism in Somalia, we want to know and we want those people prosecuted, and we want to make sure that that doesn’t ever happen again,” Omar said.