By: Rita Cook
Washington D.C. – The Trump administration is considering revoking the citizenship of Somali Americans caught in the recent Minnesota fraud scheme.
The administration has also placed strong restrictions on the state after the recent fraud unraveling as well.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said cases are being reviewed with an eye toward the denaturalization of Somalians who are now U.S. citizens who came to the country and have been convicted of fraud in the social services situation.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reminded “Under U.S. law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization.”
There are over 100,000 people who are of Somali descent in Minnesota and almost 250,000 in the United States according to the United States Census Bureau.
So far there have been 98 people charged by the Department of Justice in the fraud scheme in Minnesota and 85 are of Somalian decent.
Keep in mind too, in addition to the daycare scandal, there is also the COVID Feeding our Future scandal. That ringleader was not Somali; it was a white woman named Aimee Bock.
Independent journalist, Nick Shirley, was the person who brought the issue in Minnesota to the forefront, but apparently much fraud had been going on for years.
In a recent House Oversight Committee hearing Texas Rep. Brandon Gill pointedly ask questions of Democrats and Republicans.
Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor was questioned on the percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota on food stamps, which is 54% a number higher than other households in the state. There are also 81% of Somali-headed households still on welfare after 10 years in the state.
Gill characterized the Somalian community as mostly Democrats with a notion that political affiliation tied to fraud if exposed would have harmed the party.
California Representative Robert Garcia said Gill’s summation of the party was unfair.
“When people commit fraud and people get hurt, there’s going to be repercussions, as there should be,’ Garcia said. “We want to hold foreign fraudsters accountable. We want to protect the victims. That’s how it should work”.
Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer called for the Trump administration to deport Somalis convicted in the Minnesota fraud.
Texas Representative Wesley Hunt went further an introduced legislation to require U.S. refugees from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Somalia to self-deport after 180 days.
Trump has ended the temporary legal protection for Somali residents of Minnesota
He also issued actions last week that had been or will be taken regarding the Minnesota scandal.
The Department of Justice is engaged in multiple investigations into the fraudulent activity in the Minnesota programs, including the state’s Feeding Our Future, Housing Stabilization Services, Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention programs, and Evergreen Recovery.
The DOJ has issued over 1,750 subpoenas, executed over 130 search warrants, and conducted over 1,000 witness interviews as part of its ongoing investigation.
Many of the facilities and schemes from Shirley’s video are under active investigation and one of the buildings featured in the video had 13 defendants charged for fraud.
The FBI is conducting investigations into dozens of the state’s health care and home care providers accused of fraud, surging forensic accountants and data analytics teams. There are also investigations regarding potential links to elected officials and terrorist financing.
The Department of Homeland Security is in Minnesota conducting investigations of suspected fraud and hundreds of Homeland Security Investigations officers are in the state.
DHS has arrested over 1,000 criminal illegal aliens in the past few weeks as immigration enforcement operations continue.
As part of Operation Twin Shield earlier this year, DHS has also identified over 1,300 fraud findings based on site visits in Minneapolis and Saint Paul and is currently in the process of determining which cases require additional vetting, including for refugee status and denaturalization.
The Department of Health and Human Services has frozen childcare payments and started requiring a justification, receipt, or photo evidence for all childcare-related payments nationwide. They are also enforcing federal law to demand repayment of Medicaid benefits incurred by sponsored immigrants from their sponsors. HHS is also investigating Minnesota’s Head Start programs over allegations of fraud by illegal aliens.
The Small Business Administration has stopped annual grant program payments to Minnesota and the agency suspended 6,900 borrowers in the state for approximately $400 million in suspected fraudulent activity while banning individuals from further loan programs, including disaster loans.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has dispatched a team to Minnesota to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into possible public housing assistance fraud.
The Department of Labor is conducting a targeted review of Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance program.
The Department of Agriculture has demanded Minnesota conduct recertification for its SNAP recipients to ensure the program complies with eligibility requirements.
With many benefits suspended, the secretary of the US Department of Agriculture Brooke Rollins informed Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey “Despite a staggering, wide-reaching fraud scandal, your administrations refuse to provide basic information or take common sense measures to stop fraud. The Trump Administration refuses to allow such fraud to continue.”
