President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday establishing a new federal task force aimed at combating fraud in government benefit programs, with Vice President JD Vance set to lead the initiative.
The new body, formally titled the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, will coordinate a government-wide effort to investigate and prevent fraud affecting programs administered jointly by federal, state, and local governments, including housing, food assistance, and health care benefits.
According to administration officials, the task force will develop a national strategy to identify vulnerabilities in government benefit systems and implement stronger safeguards such as identity verification requirements, documentation standards, and audits designed to prevent abuse.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;This is a very big thing that we’re doing&#8230; having to do with all of the fraud that’s taking place in our country.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> prepares to sign an Executive Order establishing a <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a>-led task force to root out fraud, as outlined in his State of the Union address. <a href="https://t.co/5tSg93E1Io">pic.twitter.com/5tSg93E1Io</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2033638488864587776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, will serve as vice chair of the task force, while White House adviser Stephen Miller will act as senior adviser. Cabinet-level officials will participate as needed depending on the programs under review.
The effort is part of a broader “war on fraud” designed to root out large-scale scams that divert taxpayer money away from programs intended to assist vulnerable Americans. “In states across the country, fraudsters are depriving vulnerable citizens of basic social services, stealing billions of your tax dollars, and eroding America’s social fabric,” a spokesperson for Vance told the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/16/us-news/trump-to-formally-name-vance-chair-of-fraud-task-force-with-these-states-in-crosshairs/">New York Post</a>. “This fraud has happened on such a massive scale that it’s endangering the future viability of America’s entire social safety net.”
The order comes amid heightened scrutiny of fraud in government-funded programs, including a major scandal in Minnesota involving fraudulent claims tied to nutrition and autism care services that has resulted in dozens of criminal indictments. Officials say the administration believes similar vulnerabilities may exist in states including California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado.
The task force is also being launched as the administration moves to strengthen federal enforcement efforts. Trump recently nominated Colin Macdonald to serve as the Justice Department’s first assistant attorney general focused specifically on fraud enforcement.
Earlier this year, Vance and Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, announced that $259.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements for Minnesota would be withheld amid fraud concerns, giving Gov. Tim Walz 60 days to submit a corrective action plan.
Vance also announced a nationwide pause on certain companies seeking Medicare subsidies for durable medical equipment such as canes and walkers, while federal officials review the program for potential abuse.
Outside watchdog groups praised the move as a necessary step to address waste and fraud in government programs. “The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) salutes President Trump for ordering the creation of this task force and stands ready to support him and the Vice President as key allies already on the battlefield,” said OJ Oleka, CEO of SFOF.
Oleka pointed to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-report-contrasts-minnesota-fraud-with-big-wins-for-red-state-taxpayers">recent report</a> from the group showing that 40 conservative state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers recovered roughly $28 billion in taxpayer funds from waste, fraud, and abuse in 2025 alone. “Our fiscal watchdogs are on the frontlines of this fight in the states,” Oleka said. “Their successful oversight should serve as a model for this task force as it works to expose and eradicate fraud nationwide.”
The administration says the new task force will coordinate closely with state financial officials and federal agencies as it develops its national anti-fraud strategy, which Trump officials argue is critical to protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring public benefit programs remain sustainable for future generations.

US President Donald Trump, alongside Vice President JD Vance

Trump Launches ‘War On Fraud,’ Taps Vance To Lead Fed Crackdown On Benefits Scams

Executive

Fraud

JD Vance

Politics

Trump Administration

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) grilled Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) during a contentious Capitol Hill hearing addressing the rampant fraud in his state, much of which has been tied to the Somali immigrant community.
Mace specifically asked Walz a series of questions about fraud linked to funding designated to help children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder — and the Minnesota governor, combative at times, struggled to answer some of the most basic questions about the people in his state.
WATCH:
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Tim Walz can’t, or won’t, answer simple questions about the absolutely massive increase in Autism program spending in his state.
These numbers have been circulating publicly for some time.
This is just insane. What a fraud. <a href="https://t.co/eF2nWEL7Le">pic.twitter.com/eF2nWEL7Le</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/2029225712167620779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Mace began by asking Walz how much the state of Minnesota had spent on autism programs in 2017. Walz at first said that he did not know, and when Mace challenged him directly — asking whether he&#8217;d prepared for the hearing ahead of time — he argued that he did not know because he was not the governor in 2017.
&#8220;We&#8217;re gonna do some Minnesota math today,&#8221; Mace said, and she eventually revealed that Minnesota had spent approximately $1,000,000 on autism programs in 2017.
&#8220;How much money was spent on autism in Minnesota in 2024?&#8221; Mace asked then.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have the number in front of me,&#8221; Walz replied. As governor I don&#8217;t —&#8221;
&#8220;Were you governor in 2024?&#8221; Mace asked.
&#8220;I was, but I&#8217;m not the —&#8221;
&#8220;Okay, so your excuse before, you didn&#8217;t know what 2017 autism numbers were because you were not governor, and today you can&#8217;t answer the numbers about 2024 as governor and you still said you prepared for this hearing today, it&#8217;s unbelievable,&#8221; Mace said. &#8220;$343,000,000 was spent in 2024. What percent increase is that, from one million to 343 million?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m not here to be your prop, go ahead and tell me,&#8221; Walz snapped.
&#8220;Are you governor of Minnesota or not?&#8221; Mace asked.
&#8220;Yes, I am,&#8221; Walz replied.
&#8220;Well, when I&#8217;m governor of South Carolina, you can sure as hell bet that I&#8217;m going to know the math,&#8221; Mace shot back, explaining that it those numbers represented a 34,200% increase.
&#8220;Do you know the number of children in Minnesota?&#8221; she asked.
&#8220;I know that Minnesota ranked as a top three state for children in the last year,&#8221; Walz said.
Mace asked what the state&#8217;s total population was, and Walz knew the answer to that question: &#8220;5.7 million.&#8221;
&#8220;What is the total population of children in Minnesota?&#8221; Mace followed up.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have the number in front of me,&#8221; Walz said.
&#8220;Are you governor of Minnesota?&#8221; Mace repeated. &#8220;And you don&#8217;t know the number of children residing in Minnesota? &#8230; As governor, I expect you to know this information. Thank God you&#8217;re not the vice president.&#8221;

JD Vance And Tim Walz Face Off In Vice Presidential Debate In New York

‘Thank God You’re Not The Vice President’: Nancy Mace Grills Tim Walz Over Autism Funding Fraud

'Thank God You're Not The Vice President': Nancy Mace Grills Tim Walz Over Autism Funding Fraud

Media

Nancy Mace

Somalis

Tim Walz

Republican lawmakers repeatedly pushed Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz on Wednesday over his handling of the Feeding Our Future scandal, which federal prosecutors have described as the nation’s largest COVID scam, involving $250 million for meals supposedly going to the hungry. 
Appearing before the House Oversight Committee, Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison faced questions about <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/The-Cost-of-Doing-Nothing_How-Tim-Walz-and-Keith-Ellison-Fueled-Minnesotas-Fraud-Explosion_3.4.26_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">findings</a> cited by Republicans that more than $9 billion in social service fraud has occurred under their watch. Both Democrats have claimed they took appropriate actions to combat and root out fraud. 
“For years, Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison presided over one of the most extensive breakdowns of oversight this committee has ever examined. Billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen from social service programs while warnings piled up, whistleblowers spoke out, and state officials chose delay and denial over action,” Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) said. “Federal prosecutors estimate that as much as $9 billion may have been stolen from just 14 Medicaid programs administered by the state of Minnesota.”
The suspected fraud made up about half of the $18 billion distributed through the programs since 2018, Comer said. One notable example of fraud was the Feeding Our Future scam, in which fraudsters, some of whom were Somali nationals, billed the government for $250 million in meals that were never distributed. 
During the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) pressed Walz on why payments to Feeding Our Future resumed just one month after the Minnesota Department of Education suspended them over suspected irregularities. 
Walz said they restarted because the agency said that the “court had required them to make those payments.”
Jordan then pointed to a <a href="https://mncourts.gov/about-the-courts/newsandannouncements/feeding-our-future-v-minnesota-department-of-education-correcting-media-reports-and-statements-by-governor-tim-walz-concerning-orders-issued-by-the-court">statement</a> from the Minnesota Judicial Branch saying Walz had made inaccurate statements about the payments and that the court “never ordered” them to restart. 
“The attorneys at the Department of Education interpreted that differently. Both of those judges are no longer on the bench,” Walz said. 
Walz was also asked about allegations that his office retaliated against whistleblowers who raised concerns about the state&#8217;s handling of fraud. Some have claimed they were told to stay silent over fears of being perceived as “racist” or “Islamophobic.” 
“I can&#8217;t speak to what they said. I can tell you it didn&#8217;t happen,” Walz told Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) when asked about claims his office retaliated against whistleblowers. 
The Trump administration has paused hundreds of millions in federal funding to Minnesota social service programs, citing widespread fraud concerns. 
Vice President JD Vance, who has been tasked by President Trump with leading efforts to combat federal fraud, announced last week that $260 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota had been paused pending further review.

Minnesota Gov. Walz And AG Ellison Testify At Hearing On Social Services Fraud

Walz Grilled Over Oversight Failures In Nation’s Largest COVID Scam

Congress

James Comer

Minnesota

Fraudsters are robbing America blind. The federal government <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-105833">estimates</a> fraud costs a family of four roughly $4,000 each year.
Fraud is the inevitable byproduct of a bloated bureaucracy that spends <a href="https://www.bea.gov/data/government/receipts-and-expenditures">$11 trillion annually</a> at the federal, state, and local levels. To conduct an audit, we would need an army of indefatigable accountants. In the past, we couldn’t raise such an army, but now we can. We simply need competent leadership in Congress to deploy it.
This system could have saved <a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-fraud-feeding-our-future-medicaid-9911799c0d0149a64a042abed095be57">billions</a> in Minnesota alone. Instead of sending millions in taxpayer dollars to the <a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/dr-oz-on-medicaid-fraud-fact-finding-mission-in-minnesota-2b-could-be-at-stake/">400 supposed</a> healthcare providers huddled in an industrial building in St. Paul, Minnesota, our government could have sent an FBI team. They would have stopped payments to “<a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/dozens-charged-in-250-million-covid-fraud-scheme-092122">Feeding Our Future</a>,” where fraudsters faked child rosters, randomly assigned ages, and reported meal volumes wildly inconsistent with site capacity — the kind of fraud that is easy for an AI to catch.
The technical solution is to use AI to spot and block fraudulent government payments, such as those to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-quality-learing-center-is-officially-closed-state-records-show">fake daycares</a> in Minnesota. Your bank already does it. If you live in Minneapolis and your card is used in Florida, your bank will deny the transaction and call you within minutes. By contrast, the government’s optional payment screening service has been branded <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/M-25-32-Preventing-Improper-Payments-and-Protecting-Privacy-Through-Do-Not-Pay.pdf">a failure</a>.
Modern AI tools can detect fraud patterns that fool humans, such as multiple nonprofits with the same address, beneficiaries, board members, and employees. These tools automatically flag anomalies like spikes in billing and implausible service delivery. When something is suspicious, these tools can stop the payment for further investigation by a human team.
Congress should require all agencies to run any payment over $10,000 through a fraud detection system and change the law to allow the government to pause suspicious payments. AI can adjudicate most cases quickly. Narrow exceptions should be made for cases where immediate payments are critical to national security. The system can exist within the Treasury, Government Accountability Office, or even report directly to Congress. Regardless of where it lives, we need an elite team of data scientists, engineers, and investigators who oversee our all-important tax dollars competently and ethically.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and state Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) testify on alleged misuse of federal funds in Minnesota at <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPoversight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GOPoversight</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OversightDems?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OversightDems</a> – LIVE on C-SPAN3 <a href="https://t.co/LkMJ0ZVExm">https://t.co/LkMJ0ZVExm</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2029197002651701402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Source: @cspan/X.com
But tech is not enough. We need the legal tools to stop fraudulent payments immediately. Would you keep paying the bill on a stolen credit card for years? That’s what the government does. When agencies suspect fraud, they often continue paying fraudsters until a court declares the “vendor” to be violating their contract. “Feeding Our Future” received $250 million of taxpayer money for years after the first <a href="https://www.governing.com/management-and-administration/minnesotas-inadequate-oversight-led-to-250m-meal-program-fraud?utm_source=chatgpt.com">allegations</a> of fraud. When Minnesota’s Department of Education slowed the payments on its suspicions, “Feeding Our Future” sued; the judge <a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/judge-rebukes-walz-assertion-that-he-ordered-mde-to-resume-payments-to-feeding-our-future/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">questioned</a> whether the agency had followed the required administrative procedures, and payments to fraudsters resumed. This illustrates a general point — fraudsters know that even credible red flags rarely trigger an immediate stop-pay and criminal prosecution, because agencies lack <a href="https://www.governing.com/management-and-administration/minnesotas-inadequate-oversight-led-to-250m-meal-program-fraud?utm_source=chatgpt.com">investigatory tools</a> and fear losing in court.
Congress, however, lacks technical competence and leadership. While half of all senators are <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48535">lawyers</a> by training, there is only <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48535">one senator</a> with an engineering degree. The Senate is not representative of America’s immense economic growth, driven in large part by technologists. It’s time for us to harness that technology to make the government serve us better.
Our prosperity and freedom are at stake. Polarization and growing mistrust in our institutions, coupled with enormous peacetime deficits, are a combustible mix. We can quell it with technology and competent leadership. Stamping out large-scale fraud could cut our deficit by as much as a quarter. Addressing waste as well could eliminate our deficit entirely. Only when families feel the benefits of our prosperity in their own budgets — through lower taxes, cheaper childcare, and healthcare — will the political pressure cool and give us space to confront our most serious challenges as a nation.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, Americans laid the foundation of the most successful democratic government in the world. Our government grew with our prosperity — eventually making full oversight impossible by human effort alone. Today, we have the technology to make our government the most upright and efficient in the world. We need leaders who are capable and willing to use it to protect our taxes, our freedoms, and our future. 

* * *
Mark York is a Harvard-trained computer scientist and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota. 

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

America Is Bleeding Billions To Fraud — How AI Could Shut It Down

Artificial Intelligence

Banks

Federal Government

Minneapolis

Technology

A new report is adding fuel to Republican efforts to frame 2026 as the opening salvo in President Donald Trump’s so-called “War on Fraud,” just days before House lawmakers are set to question Minnesota’s top officials over what the president has described as one of the largest public-fraud scandals in the country.
The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) <a href="https://sfof.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SFOF-2025-Oversight-Report.pdf">report</a>, released Tuesday morning, claims that 40 conservative state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers across 28 states recovered or returned $28 billion in taxpayer funds this year through efforts targeting waste, fraud, abuse, unclaimed property, and investment mismanagement. The organization says the report will be issued annually.
In a letter accompanying the report, SFOF CEO OJ Oleka wrote to Vice President JD Vance, who was tasked during the State of the Union with helping lead the administration’s anti-fraud initiative, pledging state-level cooperation with federal enforcement efforts. The letter was also sent to Associate Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald, recently nominated by Trump to serve as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Fraud Enforcement at the Justice Department, a role supporters have dubbed the administration’s “fraud czar.”
It comes at an auspicious time for the administration and his supporters. The United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is preparing to question Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison over oversight failures connected to a sweeping pandemic-era fraud case involving a federally funded child nutrition program in Minnesota.
During his State of the Union address, Trump singled out Minnesota as a “stunning example” of systemic fraud, alleging that billions in taxpayer funds were siphoned off through fraudulent schemes. Federal prosecutors have previously charged dozens of individuals in connection with the case, which centered on misuse of COVID-relief funds intended to feed low-income children. Court filings have detailed large sums improperly obtained, though the precise dollar totals remain the subject of ongoing legal proceedings.
Republicans argue the case reflects broader governance failures in Democratic-led states. In a statement obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire ahead of the Oversight hearing, Republican Minnesota State Senator Jordan Rasmusson said taxpayers “deserve answers on why billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen through fraudulent schemes under the failed leadership of Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison,” adding that federal intervention has been critical in prosecuting offenders.
Oleka framed the Minnesota case as a cautionary tale. In his statement, also exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire,  he called it “a criminal heist of historic proportions” and argued that eliminating the state treasurer’s office in Minnesota diffused financial oversight authority. Minnesota voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1998 abolishing the elected treasurer position, consolidating certain duties under other state offices.
Supporters of Walz and Ellison have previously maintained that the fraud was uncovered through state and federal cooperation and that prosecutions demonstrate the system ultimately worked. The governor’s office has said it has implemented additional oversight mechanisms since the scandal emerged.
The SFOF report contrasts what it describes as aggressive fraud recovery efforts in red states with what it characterizes as lax oversight in states like Minnesota.
The new report from the State Financial Officers Foundation details what it describes as a coordinated effort by conservative financial officers to aggressively police public spending and return money to taxpayers.
According to SFOF, its members uncovered $5.7 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in 2025 alone, while generating or returning another $22.3 billion through investment earnings and unclaimed property programs, totaling $28 billion in what the organization calls protected or restored taxpayer funds.
Among the largest waste and fraud findings highlighted in the report were in Florida, where Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia identified roughly $1.86 billion in what SFOF described as excessive or wasteful local government spending, and in Kentucky, Auditor Allison Ball flagged approximately $1 billion in Medicaid waste and lapsed education funds.
Whether the upcoming Oversight hearing produces new disclosures remains to be seen. But with the White House publicly elevating fraud enforcement as a national priority, and state financial officers positioning themselves as frontline partners, the Minnesota case is likely to serve as a test of competing narratives: one arguing systemic executive failure necessitating strong preemptive action, the other pointing to eventual detection and reaction as evidence of accountability.

Barack Obama Campaigns With Tim Walz On First Day Of Early Voting In Wisconsin

New Report Contrasts Minnesota Fraud With Big Wins For Red State Taxpayers

Crime

Keith Ellison

U.S.

Vice President JD Vance announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration would withhold nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding for the Democrat-controlled Minnesota state government following the state&#8217;s massive fraud scandal.
Vance, who was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the administration&#8217;s anti-fraud crackdown during the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, said that Minnesota must prove that it &#8220;takes its obligation seriously to be good stewards of the American people&#8217;s tax money.&#8221; According to Vance, the Trump administration is withholding reimbursements for Medicaid services that Minnesota already paid for out of the state budget.
&#8220;What this means is that first of all, the providers on the ground in Minnesota have actually already been paid,&#8221; Vance said at a press conference alongside Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services. &#8220;What we&#8217;re doing is we&#8217;re stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that&#8217;s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer.&#8221;
Minnesota state leaders, including Democratic Governor Tim Walz, were informed of the Trump administration&#8217;s move, according to Oz, who said the federal government will hold the Medicaid payments until Minnesota properly addresses the fraud.
&#8220;If Minnesota fails to clean up the systems, the state will rack up $1 billion of deferred payments this year,&#8221; Oz <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2026781835179565155">said</a>.
Oz assured reporters that the Medicaid funding freeze would not &#8220;hurt&#8221; Minnesota residents, since the state&#8217;s budget has a &#8220;rainy-day fund&#8221; to cover the lapse in funding.
&#8220;If providers and beneficiaries are worried about getting their money and services, please call your governor. These are services the governor has already paid for. We are just not reimbursing the state,&#8221; Oz said, adding, &#8220;This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota, it&#8217;s a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously.&#8221;
Vance has zeroed in on 14 state programs in Minnesota, which include autism service providers and medical service transports that the administration believes are rife with fraud. The Trump administration is giving Walz 60 days to respond to its letter informing the state government of its freeze on Medicaid funding.
The vice president called out so-called services in Minnesota that have received millions in taxpayer dollars, only to make fraudsters rich. Federal prosecutors recently uncovered a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/federal-jury-finds-feeding-our-future-mastermind-and-co-defendant-guilty-250-million">massive fraud scheme</a> in Minnesota, resulting in dozens of convictions so far.
Minnesota&#8217;s “Feeding Our Future” program received federal funds and claimed to distribute meals to hungry children during the COVID pandemic, but allegedly never did so. The vast majority of those charged in the fraud scheme were of Somali descent.
Vance <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2026778961930268688">said</a> on Wednesday that the administration also found that a Minnesota program that was supposed to help kids with autism &#8220;has made a number of people rich, not by providing services to needy children, but by allowing fraudsters to take money that ought by right go to American citizens and to American families.&#8221;
Dr. Oz said at the White House press conference that the new Trump administration effort would be the &#8220;largest anti-fraud effort of its kind&#8221; in the history of the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services. Oz said that a fraud scheme in Minnesota pays mothers around $1,000 to falsely enroll their children as autistic and then Medicaid is billed for millions of dollars in &#8220;services that were never rendered.&#8221;
&#8220;These schemes disproportionately involve immigrant communities,&#8221; Oz <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2026781360266830026">added</a>. &#8220;They&#8217;re able to organize efforts, and sometimes they don&#8217;t understand what&#8217;s going on. And ultimately, it diverts resources away from kids who truly have autism.&#8221;
Daycare and learning centers linked to Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis area have also come under <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-daycare-fraud-has-been-going-on-at-least-a-decade-and-theres-video-to-prove-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrutiny</a> for suspected fraud after independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a 42-minute video in December that showed him visiting numerous daycares that have received state funding, but don’t appear to be serving any children.

Vance Takes First Major Action As Fraud Czar With Sights Set On Minnesota

Medicaid

Mehmet Oz

The Trump administration is proposing new regulations that would make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to receive work permits.
Under the Biden administration, as millions of illegal immigrants poured across the southern border, they were afforded the opportunity to receive work permits rapidly before even receiving immigration status. The new proposed rule would make it more difficult for illegal border crossers whose asylum claims have no standing to obtain work permits.
“For too long, a fraudulent asylum claim has been an easy path to working in the United States, overwhelming our immigration system with meritless applications,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said.
“We are proposing an overhaul of the asylum system to enforce the rules and reduce the backlog we inherited from the prior administration. Aliens are not entitled to work while we process their asylum applications. The Trump administration is strengthening the vetting of asylum applicants and restoring integrity to the asylum and work authorization processes,&#8221; the spokesperson added.
The plan would include a pause on the issuance of work permits for asylum seekers until they&#8217;re able to process applications within 180 days, according to the Friday notice.
It could take between 14 and 173 years to reach that benchmark, according to Reuters.
Once the rule is imposed, new illegal border crossers will be ineligible for work permits, according to the plan. Illegal immigrants who notify federal immigration authorities within 48 hours of crossing the border for fear of returning to their home country based on &#8220;persecution or torture&#8221; will be exempt from the rule.
&#8220;USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] expects this rule to support another downward trend in the long term, but USCIS also expects that, upon implementation of this rule, new EAD [Employment Authorization Document] applications for pending asylum applicants would be paused for an extended period, possibly many years,&#8221; the notice read.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services currently has more than 1.4 million pending asylum claims on its plate, the agency said.
Work permits for asylum applicants are not considered &#8220;an entitlement,&#8221; according to the Department of Homeland Security, which &#8220;believes that this rule is key to disincentivizing aliens from using asylum primarily as a path to seek employment authorization in the United States and to ensuring more timely processing of asylum applications.&#8221;
The Trump administration will accept public comment for 60 days before attempting to move forward with the plan.
Some illegal immigrants who previously received work permits used them to obtain commercial driver&#8217;s licenses. While behind the wheel of heavy trucks, some of them caused fatal accidents.
Chinese <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-tour-bus-driver-with-new-york-license-accused-of-causing-fatal-wreck">illegal immigrant</a> Yisong Huang, 54, is accused of killing a 31-year-old truck driver and injuring several others in Tennessee on Dec. 9 while he was distracted by a video on his phone as he drove a tour bus.
Huang crossed the border illegally in 2023 and was swiftly released into the country. He was later granted a work permit and Social Security card.
On Wednesday, an Indian illegal immigrant, Singh Sukhdeep, behind the wheel of a semi-truck allegedly caused an accident that killed 64-year-old Terry Schultz in Hendricks County, Indiana.
Singh crossed the border illegally in 2018 and was released into the country because he was a minor at the time, federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire.
The illegal immigrant had a valid work permit at the time of the crash. The Indian national also had an Indiana commercial driver’s license, <a href="https://noticias.foxnews.com/us/illegal-immigrant-truck-driver-accused-killing-indiana-man-after-running-red-light" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Fox News.

Surge Of Migrants Overwhelms Border Crossings

Trump Seeks Tougher Work Permit Rules For Illegals With Asylum Claims

Asylum

Department of Homeland Security

Donald Trump

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Kristi Noem

Texas is suing a “radical gender” doctor whom the state alleges perpetrated medical fraud and attempted to subvert state law pertaining to gender treatments for minors.
Children&#8217;s Health System of Texas and <a href="https://utswmed.org/doctors/jason-jarin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Jason Jarin</a> <a href="https://www.childrens.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unlawfully</a> provided minors sex-rejecting medications, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, defrauded state insurance programs, and skirted state law, according to allegations in a <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/Petition_9.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“I will use every legal tool available to ensure radical gender activists like Jarin face justice for hurting our kids,” Paxton told The Daily Wire. “This criminal extremist not only permanently harmed children, but he also then defrauded Medicaid and stuck Texas taxpayers with the bill for this insanity. Experimental ‘transition’ procedures on minors are illegal, unethical, and will not be tolerated in Texas.”
In June 2023, Texas passed <a href="https://legiscan.com/TX/text/SB14/id/2756089" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senate Bill 14</a>, which banned sex-rejecting interventions for minors. Dr. Jarin, a Division Director at Children&#8217;s Health System of Texas and Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, continued to provide children cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers after the law went into effect on September 1, 2023, the lawsuit alleges.
Dr. Jarin billed males for birth control medications that were intended to serve as cross-sex estrogen, fraudulently used diagnostic codes when billing for sex-rejecting procedures, and gave puberty blockers to “otherwise healthy children under the guise of ‘precocious puberty,’&#8221; according to the lawsuit.
Puberty blockers, which can cost thousands of dollars, are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of precocious puberty, an endocrine disorder in which early sexual development occurs in children. They <a href="https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116284/documents/HHRG-118-JU10-20230727-SD011.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are not FDA-approved</a> for the treatment of gender dysphoria.
“Although Texas law bans dangerous and experimental sex-rejecting procedures on children, the scourge of so-called ‘gender affirming care’ persists in the State of Texas,” the lawsuit reads. “Even worse, Texas taxpayers have been on the hook for millions of dollars in gender transition surgeries, hormones, and other procedures that turn otherwise healthy children and young adults into chronic medical patients.”
“Our top priority is the health and well-being of the patients and families we serve. We comply with all applicable local, state and federal health care law,” Children’s Health said in a statement.
“Due to ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
In 2015, Children’s and UT Southwestern jointly opened a gender clinic, called the GENder Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support clinic (GENECIS), which had more than 1,000 patients before abruptly closing in March 2022 after facing “intense scrutiny” as the public became more aware of the horrors of gender medicine, the lawsuit describes.
However, despite the public-facing closure of the gender clinic, healthcare providers continued to provide sex-rejecting procedures to children through the Adolescent and Young Adult clinics at Children’s and the Department of Pediatric Gynecology.
“Most patients continued to see the same providers at the same locations, and the partnership between UT Southwestern and Children’s remained essentially the same,” states the lawsuit.
Both the GENECIS and Adolescent and Young Adult clinics were “overseen by overlapping department chairs at UT Southwestern,” which included the Department of Pediatrics chair, Dr. Jorge Bezerra, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology chair, Dr. Perrin White, and the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics chair, Dr. Richard Adams, the lawsuit describes.
When SB-14 went into effect, Dr. Jarin and two former GENECIS clinic doctors, Dr. Brett Cooper and Dr. Mary Lau, met with UT Southwestern leadership, including Bezerra, White, and Adams, to “discuss the implication of SB-14 for both institutions,” according to the lawsuit.
Dr. Jarin was primarily tasked, alongside White, Lau, and Cooper, with creating a “wean protocol&#8221; that allowed patients to wean off of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in compliance with SB-14 over a “medically appropriate” period of time, according to the lawsuit.  Patients who attended mental health sessions and were prescribed the medications before June 1, 2023, were eligible for the “wean protocol.”
Paxton claims this protocol was an attempt to subvert compliance with SB-14 and “justify the continued, illegal prescription of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to children,” in the lawsuit.
The “wean protocol” decreased the dosing of sex-rejecting hormones at such a low rate that it would take “2 to 5 years to wean completely off,” allowing children to maintain the feminizing or masculinizing effects of the drugs until age 18, when they could legally return to their “pre-SB-14 dosage,” according to the lawsuit.
Furthermore, if patients met either of two “exception” criteria, they were permitted to discontinue weaning altogether.
The protocol required patients to maintain the reproductive hormone levels of the opposite sex “in perpetuity,” claiming this was necessary to protect their bone health.
If patients failed to maintain these artificially high hormone levels, which are the intended result of cross-sex hormone therapy, they were granted an &#8220;exception&#8221; from weaning off of the outlawed drugs, according to the lawsuit.
Paxton said “there was no legitimate medical basis for their recommendation regarding bone health,” and the protocol was “always a pretext for patients to continue illegal cross-sex hormones,&#8221; as stated in the lawsuit.
&#8220;There is no evidence to justify maintaining these hormone levels over prolonged periods of time. The vast medical literature on this topic shows that these hormonal treatments did not produce the desired effect of improving psychological well-being,” <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpm&amp;utm_campaign=gg&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=20707841002&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAo-mml0lKhEjcTG1qPvNZ-1InzHPM&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAhtvMBhDBARIsAL26pjGko9yt7rnE12NZnMRYmHQmENC5qfv_zJoBEEi7b_Tigf_gGa9qfHEaAu4wEALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Do No Harm</a> chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb told The Daily Wire. “Moreover, they are involved with all of the unfortunate side effects, including the potential for sterility as well as a number of genital problems associated with prolonged exposure to contra-sex hormones.&#8221;
Patients were also granted an exception from weaning off cross-sex hormones if their mental health team failed to document their “mental health stability at least every six months,” according to the lawsuit.
The same initial intake criteria used by UT Southwestern and Children’s to begin medicalizing gender confused children was used to continue cross-sex hormone therapy under the wean protocol, according to the lawsuit.
The 75-page lawsuit outlined multiple allegations of billing fraud and the subversion of SB-14, providing examples from multiple patients.
In the lawsuit, Texas claims both defendants violated the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act and the Texas Business &amp; Commerce Code. It also claims Dr. Jarin “knowingly” violated SB-14 “with respect to at least twelve minor patients.”
“Jarin and Children’s conspired to subvert compliance with SB-14 and to receive reimbursement for gender interventions in violation of State law. Defendants conspired to violate SB-14 and therefore receive reimbursement from Texas Medicaid in violation of State law and regulation,” states the lawsuit.
The federal government has not stated an intention to get involved in the Texas situation, but allegations of Medicaid fraud could draw interest from the Department of Justice.
UT Southwestern Medical Center did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

Ken Paxton

Texas Attorney General Says Radical Doctor Broke The Law To Give Minors Sex-Rejection Interventions

Texas

Transgender

The Trump administration arrested an illegal immigrant who pretended to be a United States citizen to become a corrections officer in Minnesota.
The alleged &#8220;serial immigration fraudster,&#8221; 45-year-old Morris Brown of Liberia, was captured on January 15 after going AWOL from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/serial-immigration-fraudster-working-as-a-minnesota-corrections-officer-arrested" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Federal authorities said the &#8220;serial fraudster was identified as part of the major enforcement operation that targeted suspected immigration fraud in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last fall,&#8221; and had &#8220;multiple violations of U.S. immigration law, including overstaying his student visa and making false claims to U.S. citizenship.&#8221;
While the Trump administration recently ended its massive immigration sweeps in Minnesota, dubbed &#8220;Operation Metro Surge,&#8221; officials have made clear that they will not pull federal officers investigating fraud from the North Star State.
“Operation Twin Shield continues to deliver results as the Department of Homeland Security relentlessly pursues those who seek to cheat our immigration system,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement Wednesday.
“This alien tried every trick in the book to remain in the United States after losing legal status. We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure he faces justice for his many violations of the law,&#8221; Edlow added.
Brown came into the country in 2014 on a student visa that was &#8220;terminated&#8221; in 2015 after he failed to enroll &#8220;in a full course of study,&#8221; USCIS said.
He also joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014, despite having no legal immigration status, and went AWOL the next year. He was later apprehended and discharged under other than honorable conditions in 2022.
He applied for a green card under the Liberian Refugee Fairness program in 2020, but was ultimately denied &#8220;due to misrepresentations, including his failure to disclose prior military service and his false claim to U.S. citizenship,&#8221; according to USCIS.
Brown then applied for citizenship &#8220;based on prior military service&#8221; in 2024.
Federal investigators probing allegations of fraud in the Twin Cities looked into Brown&#8217;s citizenship application, finding &#8220;evidence of marriage fraud and prior instances where he falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen in official documents,&#8221; USCIS said.
It was also discovered that he was employed as a corrections officer with the state.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections confirmed that Brown was employed from May 2023 to October 2025, saying that they&#8217;ve provided his employment documents to USCIS, <a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/uscis-former-minnesota-corrections-officer-arrested-in-operation-targeting-immigration-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to local news outlet KSTP.
The department claimed to have adhered to federal document verification requirements when it hired Brown, the outlet reported.
“If these federal allegations are accurate, this individual engaged in sophisticated efforts to misrepresent their identity, extending well beyond Minnesota. We are grateful to USCIS and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] for their work in investigating and addressing immigration fraud,” Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said. “We will continue to comply with federal law and work professionally with our federal partners.”
USCIS notified ICE of its findings, resulting in Brown being placed into removal proceedings and facing possible prosecution for his alleged fraud offenses.
Since the Trump administration commenced its mass deportation campaign, federal authorities have discovered several other instances of illegal immigrants working as law enforcement officers.
In early February, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-orleans-police-recruit-turns-out-to-be-illegal-immigrant-fraudster">ICE revealed</a> that officers had arrested an illegal immigrant from Cameroon who was just one week away from graduating from the New Orleans Police Department academy.
In October, federal authorities nabbed Radule Bojovic, an illegal immigrant from Montenegro, who was employed as a police officer with the Hanover Police Department in Illinois.
A judge later granted Bojovic a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-releases-illegal-immigrant-cop-from-ice-custody" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$2,500 immigration bond</a>, and the police department has since allowed him to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-cop-previously-nabbed-by-ice-returns-to-work-for-illinois-police-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">return</a> to work.

Federal Agents Descend On Minneapolis For Immigration Enforcement Operations

‘Serial Fraudster’: Feds Nab Minnesota Corrections Officer Who Lied About U.S. Citizenship

Feds Capture Illegal Immigrant Who Became Minnesota Cop, Went AWOL From National Guard After Lying A

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that multiple Chinese nationals and American citizens had been charged with carrying out a marriage fraud scheme targeting members of the U.S. military. 
The scheme involved recruiters paying Americans tens of thousands of dollars to enter into “sham” marriages with Chinese nationals for immigration purposes, according to the Justice Department. In one instance, investigators said that a female member of the Navy married and met a Chinese national on the same day at a wedding service in Las Vegas. 
The charged individuals were Anny Chen, Sha Xie (China), Linlin Wang (China), Jiawei Chen (China), Yafeng Deng, Hailing Feng, Kiah Holly, Xionghu Fang (China), Tao Fan (China), Jaden Bullion, and Kin Man Cheok (China). None of the defendants, except Bullion, had lawyers listed to represent them. They could not immediately be reached for comment. 
The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday and said that conspirators “preferred to recruit U.S. citizens who were members of the U.S. armed forces to join the conspiracy and marry Chinese nationals.” 
The entire conspiracy stretched from March 2024 to February 2025 and took place in Florida, New York, and Nevada, according to the indictment. In general, a recruiter would promise to pay an American $10,000 to marry a Chinese national, $20,000 after a valid ID was issued to the Chinese national, and another $5,000 after they divorced. 
The eleven named in the indictment are alleged to have worked with Raymond Zumba (former Navy reservist), Brinio Urena (former Navy recruiter), Jacinth Bailey (Navy), and Morgan Chambers (Navy). Lawyers for Bailey and Chambers declined to comment. 
In July, Zumba <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/naval-reservist-pleads-guilty-paying-bribe-obtain-department-defense-identification">pleaded guilty</a> to attempting to bribe the spouse of an individual working in the personnel office of the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. Zumba hoped to obtain ID cards in exchange for cash. 
In March 2024, investigators said that Anny Chen and another conspirator recruited Zumba to marry Sha Xie, a Chinese national. The marriage took place in Brooklyn in April of that year, and wedding photos were taken to perpetuate the scheme, according to the indictment. Zumba allegedly received $10,000 from Chen for the marriage. 
Zumba was then accused of recruiting Urena in May 2024 to “enter into a sham marriage with a Chinese national in exchange for a cash payment.” 
In another example of the conspiracy, the Justice Department said that Chambers met and married Jiawei Chen in Las Vegas on October 4, 2024, according to the indictment. She was allegedly paid $10,000 in a restaurant restroom by Chen for the marriage.
The others were alleged to have engaged in similar activities and messaged about plans to participate in the scheme.

U.S. Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Visits Shanghai

Marriage Scam Exposed: DOJ Busts Chinese Scheme Targeting U.S. Military

China

Department of Justice

Military

U.S. Military

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced Thursday morning that she is running for governor of Minnesota in hopes of becoming Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s successor.
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, opted not to seek a third term after being embroiled in Medicaid fraud scandals in the state, which have garnered national attention.
“Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot,” she said in her campaign launch video opening her remarks, highlighting the recent tensions with federal immigration authorities as well as the June 2025 murders of two high-profile Democratic state lawmakers.
“I’m asking Democrats, independents, and Republicans to join our campaign – it is a homegrown one born in a moment like no other. It is for people who believe in something bigger than ourselves,” the senator, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, continued.
Assuming Klobuchar clinches the Democratic nomination, she could face a general election contest against Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth or MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, both of whom are seeking the Republican nomination.
The <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/governor-race-ratings">Cook Political Report</a> ranks the race as “Likely Democrat.” A Klobuchar victory would also create a vacancy in Minnesota&#8217;s U.S. Senate delegation, allowing her to appoint an interim replacement until a special election is held. Klobuchar was re-elected to the Senate in 2024 with more than 56% of the vote, defeating Republican Royce White, a former NBA player.
There’s already a closely watched Senate race in the state with the retirement of Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, as Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are in a heated Democratic primary, and former sports reporter Michele Tafoya and White are seeking the Republican nomination. The contest is currently ranked “Likely Democrat,” but it’s caught the attention of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is backing Tafoya.
The electoral fireworks come at a serious moment for the state. Border czar Tom Homan has taken charge of Operation Metro Surge following the controversial fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. The surge has led to widespread arrests of illegal immigrants and sparked protests, legal challenges, and sharp criticism from state and local officials who are calling for the federal presence to be scaled back.
Democratic leaders, such as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Walz, have been at odds with the Trump administration over how to tackle immigration enforcement in the state.

Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In Charleston Ahead Of SC Primary

Amy Klobuchar Jumps Into Governor’s Race As Minnesota Remains Under Federal Scrutiny

Amy Klobuchar

Senate

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ended his campaign for re-election, a stunning reversal and likely the end of the political career of a man who many pundits projected would be the Democratic nominee for president as early as 2028.
But if a once-popular governor can be toppled by widespread welfare fraud, where does that leave other Democratic presidential hopefuls?
The revelations of staggering levels of fraud in Minnesota — and Walz’s preemptive exit from the big stage — should send a chill down the spines of Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, and JB Pritzker, who are likely sitting on powder kegs of fraud themselves. What are the odds that Tim Walz is an outlier among blue-state governors with the exact same political philosophy and ideology? Unlikely.
Federal prosecutors allege more than <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/12/18/u-s-attorney-fraud-likely-exceeds-9-billion-in-minnesota-run-medicaid-services/">$9 billion</a> in Minnesota Medicaid dollars were stolen by scammers primarily from the state’s Somali community, an enormous sum, equivalent to roughly three-quarters of <a href="https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Somalia-GDP-2024-release-text-v3-2025.pdf">Somalia’s GDP</a>. Investigations are ongoing, and the real total loss may be even higher.
Welfare programs are an enormous money pot that inevitably attracts scammers. And the bigger the pot, the bigger the potential payoff for thieves. With state budgets the size of those in California, Illinois, and New York, not to mention Democrats’ general posture toward welfare expansion, it would be truly shocking if there were less fraud in those larger states.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requested data from the states on who is receiving food stamps early last year, including identifying information like Social Security numbers and, importantly, immigration status. The Trump administration has previously discovered that more than one million people were illegally receiving <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/cms-doge-identify-wasteful-duplicate-medicaid-enrollments.html">Medicaid in multiple states</a> — and it’s likely the same with food stamps and SNAP benefits. Individual states are not able to detect this kind of fraud: only the federal government can find it by comparing recipients across the states.
But Democrats have refused to help the Trump administration find fraud. In fact, <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-sues-trump-administration-over-illegal-demands-states">in July</a>, 22 blue states sued to block the Trump administration from requiring the data. Democrats want the federal government to pay for food stamps without knowing who is receiving them.
Tim Walz and the other 21 governors have all seen the information they are currently hiding from the feds. In the absence of transparency from these elected officials, federal investigators, journalists, and citizens of goodwill all need to keep digging until the American people get the truth and law enforcement can bring fraudsters to justice.
Food stamp fraud is a known fact. According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), more than <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-107753.pdf">$10 billion</a> in the food stamp program is wasted every year — <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research">more than 10%</a> of the program. Some blue states have even higher error rates: Massachusetts and D.C. overpay by an average of more than <a href="https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/snap-fy24QC-PER.pdf">13%</a> — and New York and New Jersey aren’t far behind at more than 12%. That means that one out of every eight dollars in these states is wasted — and this is just the waste, fraud, and abuse that we know about.
Nearly <a href="https://thefga.org/research/categorical-eligibility-in-food-stamps-is-fraud-by-design/">every Democrat-run state</a> in America also uses an accounting gimmick called Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility, or BBCE, to hide its own erroneous payments from the federal government. BBCE means that if someone receives a non-monetary TANF benefit, like a brochure or the number to a welfare agency hotline, the state assumes that they qualify for food stamps, too, without bothering to check their assets to see if they are actually eligible. The result is an explosion in the welfare state, costing taxpayers more than <a href="https://thefga.org/solution/promoting-work-over-welfare/bbce/">$11 billion per year</a>, with the benefits going to people with liquid assets well above the limits set in federal law.
The good news is that, thanks to a new law signed by President Trump, states with high error rates can no longer waste federal tax dollars with impunity. States with food stamp payment error rates over <a href="https://www.sas.com/en_us/news/press-releases/2025/november/payment-integrity-food-assistance.html">six percent</a> are now legally required to start paying back a small part of the cost of the program. Left-wing Massachusetts could owe more than <a href="https://www.wwlp.com/news/massachusetts/understaffed-dta-faces-steep-snap-penalty-risks/">$250 million per year</a>. Deep-blue Maryland may be on the hook for more than <a href="https://marylandmatters.org/2025/12/03/maryland-may-face-more-than-300-million-in-new-snap-costs-due-to-high-payment-error/">$300 million</a>. This is a great first step, and not only will it help repay federal taxpayers, but it will also encourage states to finally get their act together and stop wasting money.
As the old story goes, criminals rob banks “because that’s where the money is.” And there are no bigger pots of money than the federal treasury and the bloated budgets of blue states. Attorney General Bondi and investigators across the country are beginning to look at where the real money is — and the fallout could bring down the entire top-tier slate of 2028 Democratic presidential nominees.
* * *
Adam Gibbs is the communications director for the Foundation for Government Accountability.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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