Trump’s ICE Director Blames Sanctuary Laws For Minnesota Fraud

President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief placed blame squarely on sanctuary laws for Minnesota’s fraud scandal.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox & Friends Tuesday that sanctuary laws in cities like Minneapolis, which prevent local authorities from contacting or working with federal immigration agents, have provided a safe haven for fraudsters.

Earlier this month, federal authorities revealed that at least $9 billion in taxpayer funds may have been stolen as part of a massive fraud campaign that’s largely been tied to Minnesota’s Somali community.

The fraudsters allegedly funneled cash from state welfare programs through fake nonprofits and shell companies back to Somalia — and even Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab, City Journal reported last month.

“There’s always a tie when it comes to sanctuary jurisdictions, where you can hide in plain sight. You see a lot of these fraudsters use a lot of sanctuary rules and sanctuary protections to enact in criminal fraud just like this,” Lyons said.

Homeland Security Investigations agents conducted door-to-door inspections in Minneapolis on Monday, targeting suspected fraud sites.

It comes after independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a now-viral 42-minute video last week alleging that numerous daycare and learning centers in the area had no children on-site, despite receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer funding.

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“We’ve been on the ground for so long looking into these states that are conducting these type of material fraud, and when Homeland Security Investigations goes into these businesses, there is criminal activity when it comes to labor trafficking, child trafficking, human exploitation and that’s what we’re looking at up there in Minnesota. And you’ll always come back to these sanctuary jurisdictions where you’ll find them hiding in plain sight and using those sanctuary protections to employ not only illegal aliens, but to conduct criminal fraud just like you’re seeing right now,” he said.

Sanctuary cities like Minneapolis are HOTBEDS for criminal illegal alien activity.

Their radical policies serve only as protections for the WORST of the worst while Americans suffer the consequences of failed leadership. pic.twitter.com/PLdd4oBBs5

— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) December 30, 2025

The Trump administration sued Minnesota in September over sanctuary policies in the state, with Attorney General Pam Bondi accusing the state of allowing illegal immigrants “to circumvent the legal process.”

Bondi is also looking into Minnesota’s fraud scandal, saying on X Monday that the feds have charged 98 individuals and that 85 of them are of Somali descent.

“We have more prosecutions coming … BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!” Bondi said.