Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that multiple money service businesses in Minnesota were under investigation for potentially transferring money stolen from the federal government overseas to Somalia.
Bessent made the comments during a press conference from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area where he announced actions that the Treasury Department and the IRS are taking to crack down on fraud. He said that multiple money service businesses — non-bank financial institutions that transmit money — had been informed that they were under investigation.
“Our citizens have a right to know that their tax dollars are not being diverted to fund acts of global terror, or to fund luxury cars for fraudsters. Democratic Governor Tim Walz has allowed welfare programs and fraud to spiral out of control,” he said. “Billions of dollars intended for hungry children, housing for disabled seniors, and services for children with special needs were diverted to people who cheated the system, some of whom are not even American citizens.”
Bessent said that the IRS and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), the arm of the Treasury that investigates money laundering and terrorist financing, were looking into whether money fraudulently obtained through welfare programs went to Al-Shabaab, an Islamic terror group in Somalia.
Both agencies are investigating whether financial institutions complied with regulations to detect money laundering and other illicit activities. He did not disclose which money service businesses were under investigation.
“These businesses had an obligation to comply with anti-money laundering laws, and they will be held responsible for any crimes they committed,” he said.
Additionally, Bessent said that banks in Hennepin County, which encompasses Minneapolis, and Ramsey County, home to St. Paul, were being required to submit information about money transferred overseas.
Bessent estimated that around $300 million in funds had been fraudulently taken from the federal government through welfare programs meant to help impoverished children.
When asked by The Daily Wire&#8217;s Mary Margaret Olohan during the conference if Walz may be potentially wrapped up in the investigation, Bessent said, “It&#8217;s clear that Governor Walz has been negligent in his fiduciary duties as the chief executive of the state of Minnesota that this would happen on his watch, and we are actively pursuing all leads to see the level of involvement, whether it&#8217;s limited to just negligence and incompetence, or is something more than that.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> asks Sec. Bessent what role Tim Walz played in the Somali fraud scandal: <a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecScottBessent</a>: &#8220;It&#8217;s clear that Gov. Walz has been negligent&#8230;We are actively pursuing all leads to see the level of involvement whether it&#8217;s limited to negligence and incompetence or… <a href="https://t.co/AY5IGfprY9">pic.twitter.com/AY5IGfprY9</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2009671316090003698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has mobilized multiple departments to investigate alleged widespread fraud in Minnesota, including allegations that millions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled to fraudulent daycares across the state throughout the past ten years.
The Department of Health and Human Services has stopped funding for childcare and other welfare programs to Minnesota while federal law enforcement investigates.

Bessent Says Fed Shouldn’t Delay On Rate Cuts, CNBC Says

Feds Flag Financial Institutions That May Have Sent Money To Somali Terrorist Org

Crime

Fraud

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Scott Bessent

Somalia

Treasury Department

U.S.

Nicolas Maduro Transported To Court Hearing

Venezuela Has Been Dealt With. Somali Scammers Should Be Next.

Donald Trump

Marco Rubio

Matt Walsh

Nicolas Maduro

Opinion

Pete Hegseth

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Venezuela

The manager of the Quality Learning Center facing fraud accusations in Minneapolis responded to the allegations on Tuesday, saying, “There’s no fraud going on whatsoever.”
The center, whose sign is misspelled Quality &#8220;Learing&#8221; Center, has reportedly received $4 million in state funding. But when independent journalist Nick Shirley showed up at the center in a video that went viral last week, there were no children to be found. The learning center&#8217;s manager, Ibrahim Ali, claimed that Shirley showed up too early for any kids to be present since the center operates from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
&#8220;Kids come to us, clients come to us, their parents come to us – they’re here daily, they leave on time, they come on time. There is no fraud going on whatsoever,&#8221; Ali <a href="https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/2006047912896135614">said</a>.
Ali added that the center serves children &#8220;after school hours,&#8221; and has been doing so since 2017. The Quality Learning Center is licensed as a &#8220;day program&#8221; to serve infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children.
The Quality Learning Center has been hit with <a href="https://licensinglookup.dhs.state.mn.us/Details.aspx?l=1087038">numerous violations</a> by the state, most recently in June for the facility being in poor condition and cribs not meeting safety requirements. The center has also been cited multiple times for attendance records missing information and has been <a href="https://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&amp;RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&amp;dDocName=LLO_462184">fined</a> at least <a href="https://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&amp;RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&amp;dDocName=LLO_466644">twice</a> for failing to conduct proper background checks for employees. No one picked up the phone when The Daily Wire tried to call a number for the center posted online. The line for a second number the center advertised was busy.
Ali refuted claims from Minnesota state regulators that the learning center had recently shut down.
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Tikki Brown, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, said at a press conference on Monday that many of the daycare and learning centers that Shirley visited in his video had already shut their doors for good, including the Quality Learning Center. A spokeswoman for the department later clarified that Quality Learning Center “decided to remain open,” <a href="https://www.startribune.com/viral-video-prompts-new-scrutiny-of-alleged-fraud-and-draws-quick-reaction-from-mn-regulators/601554058?utm_source=gift">according</a> to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
&#8220;We haven’t closed. We’ve never closed,&#8221; Ali said. &#8220;There was never a time where kids were told to stop coming. There was never a time we told our employees to stop coming. All that is false information.&#8221;
The daycare manager argued that Shirley&#8217;s reporting was an attempt to &#8220;put out a certain message about a certain group [of people],&#8221; adding the fraud accusations have hurt his business as well as the Somali community.
&#8220;Are you trying to record that we’re doing fraud or are you trying to put the Somali name and the fraud in the same sentence?&#8221; Ali asked. &#8220;That’s what really hurt us the last couple of days.&#8221;
Asked about the misspelled sign, Ali blamed the graphic designer hired by the learning center, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/12/29/us-news/quality-learing-daycare-targeted-in-minneapolis-fraud-video-blames-designer-for-typo-as-worker-snaps-at-post-reporter-get-the-f-k-out-of-here/">reported</a>.
“What I understand is [the owners] dealt with a graphic designer. He did it incorrectly. I guess they didn’t think it was a big issue,” he said.

Screenshot: X

‘There’s No Fraud’: Manager Of Misspelled ‘Quality Learing Center’ Responds To Fraud Claims

A shocking video confronting apparent fraudsters seems to expose even more Somali-linked fraud in Democrat Gov. Tim Walz&#8217;s Minnesota.
Journalist <a href="https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2004642794862961123?s=42">Nick Shirley</a> on Friday posted 42 minutes of video footage from an investigation into the fraud, largely focused on government-funded childcare operations that seemingly care for no children.
&#8220;Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet,&#8221; Shirley captioned the video post. &#8220;We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable,&#8221; he added. &#8220;We ALL work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening, the fraud must be stopped.&#8221;
In one jaw-dropping moment, Shirley and a resident named David, who&#8217;s been investigating the fraud for years, show up to a childcare center that seems completely empty. The building has no windows, and the word &#8220;learning&#8221; on the sign is misspelled. A man who&#8217;s lived in the area since 2017 told Shirley he&#8217;s never seen a single child at the center, and said that if Walz is to blame, the governor should be jailed and held accountable.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 HOLY CRAP! A Minnesota man who’s been living next to a Somali “daycare center” for eight years says he’s never seen a SINGLE CHILD there
“None! Not at all… and I’ve been here since 2017!”
“They’re stealing the money!”
He even called on Tim Walz to be JAILED over this. I… <a href="https://t.co/Zo1ZHlOaU3">pic.twitter.com/Zo1ZHlOaU3</a>
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2004669888518844689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
In the video, David tells Shirley that, per public records, some of these childcare centers have received millions of dollars from the state and federal government through a program called the Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP. The program is run by the state, but there is federal funding included.
Another supposed daycare center the team visited on a weekday was closed up. David said he&#8217;s never seen &#8220;a single child&#8221; at the location in nine years. The center has received millions of taxpayer dollars.
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&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure, I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; one woman wearing a hijab tells the team when she&#8217;s asked if she&#8217;s ever seen children at the childcare center.
In another alarming moment, clipped by journalist Nick Sortor, two women in hijabs and face-coverings are confronted about why there is only one child at another taxpayer-funded supposed center. They yell at David and Shirley, but provide no answers. Notably, Shirley is also told he can&#8217;t enroll his son at the daycare and can&#8217;t view the area.
One of the women even tells Shirley that she&#8217;s afraid of him because of his &#8220;color.&#8221; Shirley is white.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 BREAKING: Elon Musk just called for the PROSECUTION of Tim Walz for the rampant taxpayer funded FRAUD in the Somali community
Walz has worked to COVER UP this fraud at the expense of the American people in order to buy votes
LOCK HIM UP! <a href="https://t.co/CZWDZ3UUx8">pic.twitter.com/CZWDZ3UUx8</a>
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2004757253145190894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
The unfathomable amount of fraud, some of which is seemingly exposed in the video, sparked billionaire Elon Musk to call for the prosecution of Walz.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Prosecute <a href="https://twitter.com/GovTimWalz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GovTimWalz</a> <a href="https://t.co/oSQprdo292">https://t.co/oSQprdo292</a>
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2004755989107757521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
A jaw-dropping press conference held earlier this month confirmed that $9 billion – or potentially more – of taxpayer money could have been stolen during Walz’s tenure.
As outlined by federal prosecutor Joseph Thompson, 14 taxpayer-funded programs in particular were found to be rife with fraud since 2018. Those programs cost $18 billion, and Thompson said it’s possible that half of that, or more, could have been fraudulently claimed.
“I think we’re an outlier in a bad way,” Thompson <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NirLDCHIpr0">said</a> of Minnesota. “You don’t see fraud on this scale in other states. … Every day we look under a rock and find a new $50 million fraud scheme. That shouldn’t be the case in a state of our size. Certainly other states have problems with frauds, but I think our problem is unique.”
Thompson said Minnesota earned a reputation for being, essentially, easy to rip off, which sparked what’s called “fraud tourism” — or people moving to the state to commit fraud.
Fraudsters, he said, would create companies entirely dedicated to fraud, which is different from up-charging for services, which is typical in Medicaid fraud.
Walz, who’s unsurprisingly in the hot seat over the scandal, says Thompson is engaging in “sensationalism” and says there’s “<a href="https://www.startribune.com/walz-says-theres-no-evidence-of-9b-in-fraud-exposing-rift-between-state-and-feds/601549681">no evidence</a>” the scope is $9 billion or more.
View the full video, below:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable
We ALL… <a href="https://t.co/E3Penx2o7a">pic.twitter.com/E3Penx2o7a</a>
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) <a href="https://twitter.com/nickshirleyy/status/2004642794862961123?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tim-walz-gets-more-bad-news-from-feds-after-massive-fraud-scandal-exposed">Tim Walz Gets More Bad News From Feds After Massive Fraud Scandal Exposed</a>

Screenshot 2025-12-27 at 12.17.14 PM

Shocking Video Exposes More Apparent Somali-Linked Fraud In Walz’s Minnesota

Tim Walz

A man awaiting trial for his alleged role in the nation&#8217;s largest COVID scam is to this day billing the government millions for dubious services.
The man indicted in the Feeding Our Future scandal, in which Somali nationals billed the government to provide millions of non-existent meals for the needy, is currently operating multiple assisted living homes in which adults live and receive on-demand services at taxpayer expense. That&#8217;s according to Minnesota lawmaker Kristin Robbins, a Republican who chairs the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, which was set up in response to more than a billion dollars of fraud in roughly the last six years.
The person is <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/02/16/man-indicted-in-feeding-our-future-fraud-has-been-paid-49-million-by-dhs-since-2016/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gandi Yusuf Mohamed</a>, who later changed his name to Gandi Abdi Kediye. &#8220;In February 2024, this person was indicted and charged for $1.1 million in money laundering in Feeding Our Future,&#8221; Robbins said at a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr9I2FqIwVY">hearing</a>. &#8220;This person was paid an additional $49 million for other state programs between 2019 and 2024. This person will have their trial in 2026.&#8221;
The suspected fraudster donated the maximum permitted campaign contribution of $2,500 to Minnesota&#8217;s Democrat attorney general Keith Ellison, according to a 2024 Minnesota Reformer article. That article quoted a Republican lawmaker explicitly calling on state authorities to review his contracts, yet he continued to operate. The federal Department of Justice said that Mohamed&#8217;s <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/us-attorney-announces-federal-charges-against-10-additional-defendants-feeding-our" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brother</a> was also part of the Feeding Our Future scheme.
Robbins said her tiny committee, with only one researcher using public documents, had found evidence of a sprawling fraud scheme that the Walz administration and Ellison had apparently done nothing to stop. The inaction raises questions about how many safety-net programs are being exploited in the state and whether Minnesota&#8217;s Democrat governor Tim Walz has taken even basic steps to stop fraud.
One real estate broker handled the purchase of a large number of single-family homes, including on behalf of Mohamed, the Feeding Our Future defendant, that were then converted into assisted living facilities that billed Medicaid. One assisted living company used three houses owned by the defendant and operated by his wife through a different company. The wife recently purchased a fourth home, again using the realtor, to which the state granted a provisional license in September, her committee found.
&#8220;Incredibly, the Feeding Our Future defendant changed his name just months before he was indicted, and used that new name to purchase the two [assisted-living facility] homes [as a business referred to as] ALF 17, that the state has paid $132,000 this year. One was purchased using the same LLC that he&#8217;s indicted for money laundering&#8221; over, she said. &#8220;If we haven&#8217;t cross-checked people who are indicted to see what other services they&#8217;ve received, we have failed.&#8221;
Another realtor purchased multiple homes, and one recipient testified months ago that he was not getting medical services despite the owner billing $1.6 million to the government. The government shut down payments to him in one program, Integrated Community Supports, but he is still operating in the assisted living program.
Another person, who used one of the same realtors, runs a mining operation in Africa and a restaurant in Minneapolis that was shut down for illegal gambling. He used the same address as a building that purported to house 100 different health care companies. One property he owns has only four bedrooms, yet &#8220;got $826,000 last year and is on pace to double that,&#8221; Robbins said.
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Another assisted living facility he purchased using cash and claimed it as his primary residence to avoid taxes, despite also claiming another home for that, she said: &#8220;That should be a basic internal control that is being flagged.&#8221;
One individual also purposed to operate an adult daycare center that billed $632,000 this year — at the same address as the African mine operator, suggesting the same home was being double-billed, she said.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1016627" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/web.jpg" alt="" width="1574" height="1016" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/web.jpg 1574w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/web-300x194.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/web-892x576.jpg 892w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/web-768x496.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/web-1536x991.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1574px) 100vw, 1574px" /></div>
Minnesota has historically provided generous government programs to help the elderly, sick, and needy. But after an explosion of immigrants from low-trust societies like Somalia, such programs have grown at a pace that defies common sense and threatens the ability to operate such programs.
Minnesota&#8217;s Department of Human Services Inspector General James Clark told the committee, &#8220;Medicaid is a trust-based system; we don&#8217;t have the technology or staff to look over everyone&#8217;s shoulder.&#8221;
The number of people providing &#8220;adult day care&#8221; has increased 43% in the last decade, even though the number of people requiring such care has only increased 7%, and there is typically a shortage of qualified health care workers, state officials acknowledged.
&#8220;Just yesterday, we announced that effective February 1, we will enact a two-year pause on adult day care licenses,&#8221; said Shireen Gandhi, the Minnesota Department of Human Services&#8217; temporary commissioner.
Asked why the state would have approved so many providers for which there is no demand, Gandhi said she was pressured by &#8220;a whole host of legislators and providers.&#8221;
Clark said there was supposed to be a &#8220;needs assessment&#8221; required before new adult day care centers could be licensed, &#8220;but unfortunately, that was removed from the statute&#8221; by legislators.
He said as long as the spigots of Medicaid dollars are flowing, recovering fraudulent payouts is difficult If a provider pays kickbacks to a fake patient, both are in on the scam, and neither will talk.
Even as Walz acknowledged that <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/walz-pauses-payments-for-14-high-risk-medicaid-programs/">fourteen programs that pushed the boundaries</a> of what Medicaid is supposed to pay for using waivers from the federal government are at &#8220;high risk&#8221; of fraud, John Collins, Medicaid director at the Department of Human Services, said he did not even know the dollar figure of the growth in spending. &#8220;But it&#8217;s a very reasonable thing to ask,&#8221; he said.
Growth in payments for assisted living are 10 to 15 percent higher than growth in other programs, Robbins said. Democrat members suggested that could be because baby boomers are beginning to become elderly. Yet a county-by-county breakdown showed that almost all the growth came around Minneapolis, where Somalis are concentrated.
Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham said &#8220;we are not currently aware of any credible allegations of fraud within the assisted living space.&#8221;
Robbins told The Daily Wire in a post-hearing interview that Cunningham&#8217;s claim was &#8220;shocking.&#8221;
&#8220;That would imply that they don&#8217;t have whistleblowers to their own agency, which is false,&#8221; Robbins said. &#8220;And they just opened their own whistleblower tip line.&#8221;
Democrats on the committee faulted Robbins for not sharing her whistleblower leads with Attorney General Ellison in addition to the U.S. Attorney. But Robbins said many of the whistleblowers only approached her as a last resort after being ignored by the Minnesota executive branch.
Gandhi, the Department of Human Services commissioner, said, &#8220;Fraud is not a partisan issue. People of all races, ages and incomes commit fraud.&#8221;
But Robbins told The Daily Wire that Democrats opposed the creation of an anti-fraud committee in the legislature, and that Walz&#8217;s Human Services head opposed the creation of a government-wide inspector general.
She said one reason Democrats have opposed rooting out fraud is that most of it is done by Somalis. &#8220;One reason the fraud mushroomed is when they raised concerns, they were told to be quiet because they didn&#8217;t want to be considered Islamophobic,&#8221; she said.
Somalis have outright used that as a get-out-of-jail-free card, with some Feeding our Future culprits suing the Department of Education on the grounds that it was racist, she said.
If Democrats won&#8217;t stop fraud, then big-government programs cease to become an option, she said: &#8220;We need to refocus on the original intent of Medicaid, which is health care for the elderly and disabled. If we refocus, we&#8217;d see more support and higher reimbursements for our hospitals.&#8221;
The high-risk programs involve expanding Medicaid beyond its intended scope using waivers granted by the federal government. One such program has been terminated after going through a 90-day federal process, Rollins said. Medicaid bills are split by the state and federal government, and the feds could demand that the state repay fraudulent funds, which could cripple the state, she said.
Nate Olsen, a disability advocate, became emotional at the hearing, faulting Walz for looking the other way at fraud to an extent that there could be no money left for taking care of Olsen&#8217;s disabled brother.
&#8220;Our governor is not doing anything to help us except to sit here and decide he wants to blame the president of the United States, who has nothing to do with this,&#8221; Olsen said. &#8220;There is a time to hold our governor accountable, and I&#8217;m not seeing it. This fraud is outrageous and I&#8217;m very scared for my little brother.&#8221;

Brooke Cunningham, Tim Walz

Minnesota Is Currently Paying An Indicted Somali Fraudster To Run ‘Assisted Living’ Homes

Federal immigration agents will descend upon two new states as part of a continued operation to nab Somali illegal immigrants, sources familiar with the operation told The Daily Wire.
Over 200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will deploy from across the country to Kansas and Ohio to make arrests, according to a federal law enforcement source.
The latest deployment comes as the Trump administration continues to target Somali illegal immigrants following reports of a massive fraud scheme in Minnesota. The fraudsters, many of whom were Somali, stole billions from state welfare programs, funneling the cash through fake nonprofits and shell companies back to Somalia — and even Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab, City Journal <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> last month.
The Trump administration responded by deploying more than 100 ICE officers to Minneapolis with orders to scoop up hundreds of illegal immigrants from Somalia who already have deportation orders.
ICE was soon met with condemnation from local leaders in Minnesota, including Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who pledged to support the Somali community in his city and to not cooperate with federal immigration agents.
The operation yielded more than 400 arrests, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
DHS didn&#8217;t confirm or deny the latest plans.
&#8220;Every day, ICE enforces the laws of the nation across the country. What makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally. We do not discuss future or potential operations,&#8221; Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump didn&#8217;t hold back yesterday 🔥<a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> <a href="https://t.co/aIkHAoSr9s">pic.twitter.com/aIkHAoSr9s</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1996785816534655010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
President Donald Trump fired back at Frey, calling him &#8220;a fool&#8221; for championing his city&#8217;s massive Somali community.
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&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t be proud to have the largest Somalian [population]. Look at their nation &#8230; it&#8217;s not even a nation, it&#8217;s just people walking around killing each other,&#8221; Trump recently said.
&#8220;These Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country,&#8221; Trump said, adding that &#8220;the Somalians should be out of here.&#8221;
Unlike Minneapolis, both Kansas and Ohio aren&#8217;t considered sanctuary states. In 2022, Kansas enacted legislation to ban sanctuary cities in the state.
Ohio is home to the second largest Somali community in the United States.

Federal Agents Detain Immigrants Outside Connecticut Courthouse

ICE Plans Operation To Target Somali Illegal Immigrants In Two New States

illegal immigrants

Illegal Immigration

Kansas

Ohio

The Somali-tied welfare fraud scheme in Minnesota is likely far worse than the American people think, involving &#8220;complicit&#8221; state government officials and totaling far more stolen money than original early estimates stated, according to Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller.
Billions of taxpayer dollars have been stolen from the state, and much of the welfare fraud has been tied to Somali migrants, as first reported by City Journal. And, alarmingly, some of the stolen money was allegedly funneled to Al-Shabaab terrorists. 
&#8220;We believe that the Somali fraud operation in Minnesota is the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars, through welfare fraud, in American history,&#8221; Miller said on Fox News. &#8220;We believe we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes.&#8221;
Miller noted that some of the reported welfare scams include people &#8220;pretending that children have autism, who are not in fact autistic,&#8221; and &#8220;pretending to enroll people in food programs, when, in fact, nobody was ever enrolled.&#8221;
These fraudsters, Miller said, engaged in &#8220;massive fraud, lying, and theft, and grift on a scale we&#8217;ve never seen before in American history.&#8221;
&#8220;The total bill, the total tab for this, is going to be far beyond the numbers being reported,&#8221; he said, suggesting we are dealing with billions of stolen tax dollars tied directly to welfare schemes.
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&#8220;Based on the records we already have &#8212; this is a significant undercount, by the way &#8212; 75% of the Somali population in Minnesota is on welfare, and that&#8217;s likely a significant undercount of just how much of a financial burden the Somali refugee population is imposing on this country,&#8221; Miller added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/StephenM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StephenM</a>: &#8220;We believe that the Somali fraud operation in Minnesota is the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars, through welfare fraud, in American history&#8230; and we believe that what we are going to uncover is going to shock the American people.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/h4jfFit0jD">pic.twitter.com/h4jfFit0jD</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1997135207707615556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Trump administration advisor also claimed that Democrat leaders in the state were &#8220;fully complicit&#8221; in the fraud.
&#8220;We believe the state government is fully complicit in this scheme and we believe that what we are going to uncover is going to shock the American people,&#8221; he asserted.
Controversial Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) could be tied up in the scandal.
&#8220;Omar’s close ties to the $1 billion welfare scam in her Minnesota congressional district are being uncovered,&#8221; the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/12/04/us-news/what-did-ilhan-omar-know-about-the-1b-welfare-fraud-case-in-her-minnesota-district/">reported</a> this past week. &#8220;Omar held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted — both for stealing millions. Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. Yet she claims to have been completely unaware of it.&#8221;
There are also serious questions about the oversight, or lack thereof, from Democrat Gov. Tim Walz. 
Currently, the Treasury Department is investigating allegations that “under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab,&#8221; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced this week.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ilhan-omar-says-trump-supporters-might-attack-somalis-brushes-off-fraud-scandal?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Ilhan+Omar+Says+Trump+Supporters+Might+Attack+Somalis%2C+Brushes+Off+Fraud+Scandal">Ilhan Omar Says Trump Supporters Might Attack Somalis, Brushes Off Fraud Scandal</a>

Funeral Held For Daunte Wright In Minneapolis

The Somali Welfare Fraud Scandal Is Even Worse Than You Think

Trump Admin Says Somali Fraud Scandal Is Even Worse Than You Think 

Election Fraud

Welfare

It seems that the Somali welfare fraud scandal is now breaking into full view, and it&#8217;s hitting a lot of people who are elected officials, including the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, and possibly Ilhan Omar.
To understand why this matters so much, we have to understand that it is all tied to a couple of major national issues. One, of course, is mass migration from third-world countries. Is that something America should be pursuing?
The second is a gigantic, unaccountable welfare state in which billions of dollars can simply go missing, which takes years to uncover.
The two stories are intertwined. When it comes to the question of mass migration, the Trump administration has taken an incredibly strong position that mass migration, particularly from countries that do not adhere to American values, should be significantly limited or curtailed.
This is a very open question, implicated by not only the Afghan national who shot two members of the National Guard, killing one, but also by this gigantic Somali welfare fraud case in Minnesota.
As The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/minnesota-welfare-fraud-feeding-our-future-smart-therapy-immigration-entitlement-state-1af9cce6?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqfP4B6pv3eMh572ufYeXbMnTh4yprnMCoN0NfvinI8Fm3CPFcYsQLPo&amp;gaa_sig=WIg-EyVCa4rusgxC1lc_jfv3U5mW5GLP0tEWFn9lCpzt6AJX2qYNaPAE1sdSlYP4j7hqpCKVfm_280nvVWWONw%3D%3D&amp;gaa_ts=693323b7&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com">points out</a>:
<blockquote>What happens when welfare becomes not a temporary hand up but an ingrained expectation of American life? For an ugly glimpse, look at the astonishing fraud unfolding in Minnesota. Turns out those GOP reformers were right to call out fraud in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 
The White House this week published a memo titled, “‘Yes, ‘There’s Something Wrong with Walz’—and it Cost Taxpayers $1 Billion,” highlighting various swindles in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. There may be as many fraud schemes as lakes in the state given the ease in which scammers tapped government funds.
Some 86 individuals have been charged with defrauding Medicaid and the Federal Child Nutrition Program in Minnesota—yes, literally stealing lunch money from kids. “No one was doing anything about the red flags,” one defendant’s attorney told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/NYT">New York Times</a>. “It was like someone was stealing money from the cookie jar and they kept refilling it.”
One of those alleged schemes, The Outfit Feeding Our Future, recruited individuals to set up a network of sham companies and sites that claimed to feed children in the pandemic. They then submitted false invoices and fake attendance rosters to the state. In fact, one of those rosters actually grabbed names from another web site called <a href="http://listofrandomnames.com">listofrandomnames.com</a>.</blockquote>
And somehow this worked for years.
<blockquote>In another scheme, a 28-year-old woman allegedly launched a company, Smart Therapy, that claimed to provide one-on-one behavioral therapy to autistic children. She employed relatives with no formal education and recruited parents to enroll their non-autistic kids in her therapy sessions by paying them kickbacks of up to $1,500 a month per child.
In a darkly comic twist, some parents allegedly extorted the woman by threatening to enroll their children in other autism centers if they weren’t paid bigger kickbacks. Smart Therapy allegedly billed Medicaid for the kids’ supposed therapy as well as their transportation to the appointments. It also submitted false claims for meals to the state’s food programs. In another indictment, eight individuals this fall were charged with fraudulently billing Medicaid to help recovering addicts find stable housing. 
Yes, housing. Minnesota pioneered the use of Medicaid money to help beneficiaries secure housing on the questionable rationale that this would improve their health and reduce healthcare spending.</blockquote>
Democrats built this entire massive infrastructure. And now, it turns out, lots of people took advantage of it. And those people were, in this particular case, Somali.
It&#8217;s hilarious to watch members of the media try to create a rationale for why Somali immigrants to the United States, overall, have been a massive boon.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2328-what-did-ilhan-omar-know-and-when-did-she-know-it?elementPosition=5&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
In order for all this to happen, you need complicit politicians, because when the fraud is this big, and so many people seem to know about it, it seems almost impossible not to have elected officials who knew about it.
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/12/04/us-news/what-did-ilhan-omar-know-about-the-1b-welfare-fraud-case-in-her-minnesota-district/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>US Rep. Ilhan Omar’s close ties to the $1 billion welfare scam in her Minnesota congressional district are being uncovered. Omar (D-Minn.) held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted — both for stealing millions. Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. Yet she claims to have been completely unaware of it. 
“[Rep. Omar] knew who these people were. People she personally knew were making tens of millions of dollars in this program,” claimed Bill Glahn, a policy fellow with the Minnesota-based Center of the American Experiment, to The Post. “She had been inside the [Safari] facility on numerous occasions and couldn’t put 2 and 2 together? Either she’s terminally naive, or knew and didn’t care,” Glahn added. 
Around $250 million was handed out by the Minnesota government to provide meals to schoolchildren during the pandemic from 2020 onward. Instead, it was pocketed by corrupt business owners, including Salim Ahmed Said. He’s the co-owner of Safari Restaurant, where Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party. Said was found guilty in August of <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/federal-jury-finds-feeding-our-future-mastermind-and-co-defendant-guilty-250-million">stealing over $12 million</a> for serving 3.9 million “phantom” meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.</blockquote>
This happened inside Omar’s district. Her defense is, “Everybody who mentions this sort of stuff is racist.”
That is always and forever the defense.
President Trump, of course, has been highly critical of the Somali American mass migration issue. Omar says Trump is an abusive, deranged old man.
This woman, who once suggested that 9/11 was “something some people did” and who herself wrote a letter to a judge asking that an ISIS recruiter be granted mercy because of the evils of having to integrate in America, is now calling the president an abusive, deranged old man because he&#8217;s been critical of Somali mass migration.
Omar published a piece in The New York Times calling herself a victim, of course, because this is the way the Left always tries to get out of this. If you know a bunch of people who engaged in tremendous welfare fraud and they are big donors to you in your district, and you&#8217;ve made your career on pandering to that particular category of people, the best way out is to call everybody who notes it “racist.”
“All Americans have a duty to call out this hateful rhetoric when we hear it,” she said.
 Listening to Omar lecture people about calling out hateful rhetoric is truly an amazing and astonishing thing.

Ilhan Omar

What Did Ilhan Omar Know And When Did She Know It?

Ben Shapiro

Somalis

Federal immigration authorities nabbed violent Somali offenders, including a gangbanger and a pedophile, as part of a recent operation targeting Minneapolis.
More than 100 ICE officers from across the country were deployed to Minneapolis this week to target roughly 500 Somalis with deportation orders, Homeland Security sources recently revealed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-sends-ice-to-minneapolis-to-nab-hundreds-of-somali-illegal-immigrants?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Sends+ICE+To+Minneapolis+To+Nab+Hundreds+Of+Somali+Illegal+Immigrants">The Daily Wire</a>. Within less than a week, ICE took several violent offenders off the streets.
Among them was Abdulkadir Sharif Abdi, a former member of the Gangster Disciples and current member of the Vice Lord Nation gang, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Abdi also had convictions for fraud, receiving stolen property, receiving a stolen vehicle, vehicle theft, and multiple probation violations.
The feds also snatched pedophile Sahal Osman Shidane, who was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor aged 13-15, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Trump administration placed the blame on the &#8220;sanctuary&#8221; leaders in Minnesota who allow illegal immigrant criminals to walk out of jails and onto the streets.
“Sanctuary policies and politicians like Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey allowed these pedophiles, domestic terrorists, and gang members to roam the streets and terrorize Americans,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Friday.
“ICE law enforcement are risking their lives to protect Minnesotans while their own elected officials sit by and do nothing. No matter when and where, ICE will find, arrest, and deport ALL criminal illegal aliens,&#8221; McLaughlin added.
The Trump administration set its sights on Minnesota after fraudsters in the sanctuary state allegedly stole billions of taxpayer funds, funneling cash from state welfare programs through fake nonprofits and shell companies back to Somalia — and even Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab, City Journal <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> last month.
Much of the fraud has been tied to the state&#8217;s massive Somali population. Seventy-eight Somalis have so far been charged for their alleged roles in the fraud operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed during a recent press conference.
In one case, a nonprofit allegedly used federal funds meant to feed thousands of children during COVID to buy homes, luxury cars, and real estate in Turkey and Kenya, according to one example provided by Leavitt.

Untitled design – 2025-12-05T100321.233

ICE Nabs Violent Somalis Including Gangbanger And Pedophile In Minneapolis Raids

ICE Nabs Somali Gangbanger Fraudster, Pedophile In Minneapolis Raids

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN) suggested on Wednesday that Trump supporters might use violence against Somali migrants, while she brushed off a massive Somali-connected fraud scandal in Minnesota that cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Omar <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/03/us/video/donald-trump-immigration-somali-somalia-ice-deportation-border-illegal-jake-tapper-lead">told</a> CNN host Jake Tapper that Trump&#8217;s comments about the fraud scandal, and, in particular, Somali immigrants, &#8220;creates fear.&#8221;
&#8220;And there is a possible danger that a lot of the people who follow the president have exhibited violence in many cases, especially in my case, whenever he has said something about me that is derogatory or says I&#8217;m a threat to the country, I have gotten death threats,&#8221; the Democrat said.
&#8220;There are so many people that have been incarcerated over the years that have been encouraged by the president&#8217;s words,&#8221; Omar claimed. &#8220;And so there is fear for Somalis, not just in Minnesota, but across the country, that some of these people might attack and harm them.&#8221;
&#8220;And so, to me, it is important for us, one, to remind folks that we are Americans,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We’re not going anywhere, and we will continue to be in this country. And two, that Minnesotans are resilient, and we will continue to thrive.&#8221;
Further, Omar brushed off the fraud scandal when she was pressed about its concentration in Minnesota by Tapper. The rep merely blamed a lack of &#8220;guardrails&#8221; because the schemes started during COVID, though Omar notably did not condemn the fraud during the segment.
The fraud scheme in Minnesota deals with billions of stolen taxpayer dollars during the tenure of Democrat Gov. Tim Walz. Notably, it&#8217;s been largely tied to the Somali community, and some stolen money was allegedly funneled to Al-Shabaab terrorists, according to <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab">City Journal</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨🇺🇸 JAKE TAPPER ASKS OMAR WHY MINNESOTA FRAUD GOT SO OUT OF CONTROL&#8230; SHE BLAMES &#8220;GUARDRAILS&#8221;
CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper pressed Rep. Ilhan Omar on why the $1 billion Feeding Our Future fraud scheme involving mostly Somali perpetrators spiraled so badly in her state.
Her answer… <a href="https://t.co/wacQffwL8S">pic.twitter.com/wacQffwL8S</a>
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1996395142001864889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump on Tuesday railed against Somali migrants, who he said &#8220;ripped off&#8221; taxpayers and, generally, contribute &#8220;nothing&#8221; to the U.S., citing a welfare rate of 88%.
&#8220;I hear &#8230; Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars, billions, every year,&#8221; the president said. &#8220;And they contribute nothing. Their welfare [rate] is like 88% — they contribute nothing.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t want &#8217;em in our country, I&#8217;ll be honest with you. Some will say, &#8216;Oh, that&#8217;s not politically correct.&#8217; I don&#8217;t care,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want them in our country.&#8221;
&#8220;Their country is no good for a reason, their country stinks, and we don&#8217;t want them in our country. I could say that about other countries, too,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have to rebuild our country — our country is at a tipping point. We can go one way or the other, and we are gonna go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.&#8221;
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Referring to Omar and &#8220;her friends,&#8221; Trump added, &#8220;These aren&#8217;t people who work; these aren&#8217;t people who say, &#8216;Let&#8217;s go, let&#8217;s make this place great.&#8217; These are people who do nothing but complain, and from where they came from, they got nothing.&#8221;
&#8220;When they come from hell, and they complain and do nothing but b****, we don&#8217;t want them in our country. Let them go back from where they came from and fix it. We don&#8217;t want them in our country,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨BREAKING: President Trump has HAD IT with these illegal aliens that are RIPPING-OFF our Country.
&#8220;Somalians—They contribute nothing!&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t want them in our country, I&#8217;ll be honest with you. Some will say that it is not politically correct. I DON&#8217;T CARE!&#8221;
&#8220;Their country… <a href="https://t.co/SjUf4M8XT6">pic.twitter.com/SjUf4M8XT6</a>
— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThePatriotOasis/status/1995934088042082811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
Reacting to Trump&#8217;s comments, Omar claimed Trump often uses &#8220;very bigoted, xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist rhetoric.&#8221;
&#8220;I’m not shocked, because we know that the president oftentimes resorts to very bigoted, xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist rhetoric when he is trying to scapegoat and deflect from the actual failures that he has himself,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We know that this administration has not fulfilled the majority of the promises that they’ve made, whether it is bringing costs down, whether it is the tariffs that are decimating businesses in the United States, whether it is the possible war crimes that his defense secretary is committing.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Rep. Ilhan Omar responds to Trump&#8217;s attacks: He&#8217;s trying to &#8216;deflect&#8217; from his &#8216;failures&#8217; 
Watch the full video: <a href="https://t.co/v0DRknaiiC">https://t.co/v0DRknaiiC</a> <a href="https://t.co/bpZ0KxMxLf">pic.twitter.com/bpZ0KxMxLf</a>
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/1996373733494382763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
Omar has notably used extreme language when it comes to President Trump. Just last month, the rep seemed to openly threaten anyone &#8220;collaborating&#8221; with the Trump administration.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Shockingly dangerous: Ilhan Omar openly threatens anyone &#8220;collaborating&#8221; with the Trump administration during a recent organizing call for May Day Strong.
She tells her radical base to make them &#8220;pay a costly price&#8221; at a time when their &#8220;price&#8221; is increasingly assassination. <a href="https://t.co/NpAghfrAV1">pic.twitter.com/NpAghfrAV1</a>
— Tudor Dixon (@TudorDixon) <a href="https://twitter.com/TudorDixon/status/1996583701744959943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tim-walz-just-unleashed-a-paid-leave-plan-for-minnesota-that-includes-illegal-immigrants?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Tim+Walz+Just+Unleashed+A+Paid+Leave+Plan+For+Minnesota+That+Includes+Illegal+Immigrants">Tim Walz Just Unleashed A Paid Leave Plan For Minnesota That Includes Illegal Immigrants</a>

Rep. Ilhan Omar Holds News Conference To Discusses Changes Required To Address Systemic Racism

Ilhan Omar Says Trump Supporters Might Attack Somalis, Brushes Off Fraud Scandal

Islam

Politics

President Trump is now activating Immigration and Customs Enforcement to go after Somali illegal immigrants in Minneapolis. This follows the reports about large-scale Somali welfare fraud, including the attempt by many members of the Somali community to defraud the federal and state governments during the pandemic. A lot of that money ended up going in remittances back to Somalia.
On Tuesday, President Trump’s overall take was that the United States needs to radically limit immigration from places like Somalia.
That is correct, because not all countries are going to be equally useful as sources of migrants to the United States. The people who come from many of these countries do not have any sort of cultural habits that mesh well with the United States.
The president <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-declares-i-dont-want-somalis-in-the-us-that-is-not-politically-correct-i-dont-care/">stated</a> that he doesn&#8217;t want Somalis in the United States, saying:
<blockquote>I hear they ripped off — Somalians — ripped off that state for billions of dollars, billions every year, billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88%. They contribute nothing. I don&#8217;t want them in our country. I&#8217;ll be honest with you. Somebody will say, &#8216;that&#8217;s not politically correct,&#8217; I don&#8217;t care. I don&#8217;t want them in our country. Their country&#8217;s no good for a reason.</blockquote>
When the president says, as a general point, that he does not want Somalis in the country,  that they&#8217;re coming from a culture that does not mesh well with the United States, is he wrong about that? As a general rule, is that wrong?
On Tuesday, the administration unveiled a new regulation that would prevent immigration applications from citizens of 19 countries already covered by President Trump&#8217;s travel bans. Right now, there&#8217;s a travel ban that says if you&#8217;re coming from Iran, Venezuela, or Haiti, you&#8217;re not going to get a travel visa. Now he&#8217;s extending that into a pause on all immigration applications from those 19 countries.
All of this raises the question as to whether the United States ought to block immigration from third-world countries. According to the Migration Policy Institute, from 2015 to 2019, Somalis, of all sub-Saharan African immigrants, had the lowest levels of educational attainment. Only 14% held a bachelor&#8217;s degree or higher. Of all immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Somali-headed households were the poorest immigrants who came into the United States, and had the lowest median income at $32,000. Somalis in the United States had a 37% poverty rate. Extremely poor, extremely uneducated. Somalis had the highest rates of being uninsured in terms of health insurance: 18%. Somalis had the highest naturalization rate of any of these groups.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2326-trump-blasts-somali-immigrants-media-explodes"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
So they come here extremely poor, extremely uneducated, with a low income and wealth trajectory. And then they get naturalized at a super-high rate because they want to stay, which anyone would want. This is an amazing country. That, however, does not mean we have an obligation to take in everybody.
When they do earn money, a huge percentage of that money gets sent back to Somalia. And some of that money goes to terrorist groups like al-Shabaab.
This is what President Trump is railing against. You may not like his language. You may think that it&#8217;s colorful or purple or whatever, and that&#8217;s fine. Anyone can be critiqued for the language that they use.
But his general point, that the United States cannot afford to take in waves of extremely poor immigrants who do not cohere with the American system, that we cannot afford to bring in hundreds of thousands of people with actual allegiances to war-torn countries like Somalia, who then take a disproportionate share of our welfare dollars, is true.
So when you hear the argument that this is a country of immigrants, well, yes, it is certainly true that this was a country of settlers, and then it was also a country of immigrants. But the kinds of immigrants you take in help define your country, and the systems that they meet here help define your immigrants.
The reason so many people have left their home countries over the course of centuries to come to the United States is because the United States was a place that guaranteed opportunity, but it did not guarantee a gigantic welfare system that actively prevented assimilation.
We changed our own immigration system. We changed our own incentive structure. And then we were surprised when different people came.
The current argument being made is as though we are welcoming people from Eastern Europe or Italy or Ireland or Germany circa 1903, when there were no robust federal welfare systems in the United States. The income tax wasn&#8217;t even constitutional at that point. There were no robust welfare systems, even at the state level. There was no real attempt by the government to get involved in propping up people who were wildly poor, to the tune of not having to assimilate or get a job.
And so that drew a different kind of person. Yes, it drew people who were desperate, but the people who were desperate recognized that their path forward lay in embracing Anglo-American legal ideas, lay in embracing Biblical values , and embracing and assimilating to American rights and responsibilities, because that was the social safety net.
The social safety net was that you join a community, you come here, you join a church, your friends and your family help you out. But then it is your job to learn English. It is your job to go out and get a job. It is your job to put your kids in the local public school and make sure that they get educated the way Americans ought to be educated.
That is why the assimilated project in the United States was extremely successful up until the welfare era.
And then the welfare era began, and everything changed. And it doesn&#8217;t mean that we didn&#8217;t have extreme conflict over immigration prior to the welfare system. There was huge controversy over the levels of Chinese and Jewish immigration in the early part of the 20th century, and before that, huge levels of ire over Irish immigration in the 1840s, 1850s.
Immigration has always been a real hot point in American politics, because when new people come to a country, the question is, are they going to become part of the system or are they going to tear down the system from within?
The great guarantor that people were going to assimilate was the fact that they didn&#8217;t have a choice. The incentive structure drove them toward assimilation. It drove them toward participation in the American Dream.
And then came the welfare system and an incentive structure that said, “Come here and we give you free stuff; we demand nothing of you; you can do basically whatever you want in terms of employment; you can send all your money back home; you don&#8217;t have to actually try to get involved in the Anglo-American project.”
And we were surprised when we drew a different type of immigrant? That&#8217;s ridiculous.
It&#8217;s the same thing as saying, “I have a donut shop, and my donut shop is a prestige donut shop. You come in here, you can get the best of the best donuts. We go in the back every morning, and we handcraft our donuts. They&#8217;re amazing.”
The constituency drawn to that kind of donut shop is going to be of one particular sort of clientele. But then you decide that you&#8217;re going to change your policy, and you just hang a sign in the front window that says “free donuts.” Who do you think is going to show up? It&#8217;s going to be a very, very different constituency. Pretending otherwise is silly.
This is not the fault of the people attempting to come to the United States. This is the fault of our authorities. This is the fault of the elite in our society who claimed that you could change the entire incentive structure, taking people from cultures that have nothing in common with the United States, and somehow those two things could logically coexist within a similar project.
It&#8217;s ridiculous. And then, of course, if you point this out, you are bigoted or racist.
No, it&#8217;s not bigoted or racist to say that if people come from a place that does not have anything in common with the United States, and there is no actual incentivization toward assimilation, they&#8217;re not going to assimilate.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CABINET

Trump Blasts Somali Immigrants

Immigrants

Terrorists

The Trump administration has commenced a new deportation operation targeting Somalis in Minneapolis, The Daily Wire has learned.
More than 100 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from across the country have descended on Minneapolis with orders to scoop up hundreds of illegal immigrants from Somalia who already have deportation orders, Homeland Security sources told The Daily Wire.
One source said as many as 500 Somalis are on the target list and that any additional illegal immigrants found during the operation are fair game.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced an end to Temporary Protected Status for Somali migrants in Minnesota after the community was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/send-them-back-trump-is-done-with-somali-migrants-in-minnesota?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Send+Them+Back%E2%80%99%3A+Trump+Is+Done+With+Somali+Migrants+In+Minnesota">connected</a> to a massive welfare fraud scheme.
<div id="attachment_1008607" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1008607" class="wp-image-1008607 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1450722377-1.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="760" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1450722377-1.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1450722377-1-300x223.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1450722377-1-776x576.jpg 776w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1450722377-1-768x570.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />(Photo by Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via Getty Images)</div>
“Minnesota, under Governor [Walz], is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” Trump posted to Truth Social at the time. “I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota.”
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing,” he said. “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Fraudsters in the sanctuary state have stolen billions of taxpayer funds, funneling the cash through fake nonprofits and shell companies back to Somalia — and even Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab, City Journal <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> last month. A large portion of the fraud has been tied to Minnesota&#8217;s large Somali population, who have allegedly exploited state welfare programs.
So far, 78 Somalis have been charged for their alleged roles in the fraud operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed during a recent press conference.
One nonprofit, claiming to support migrants, used federal funds meant to feed thousands of children during COVID to buy houses, luxury cars, and real estate in Turkey and Kenya, according to one example provided by Leavitt.
“What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes, draining resources meant for those in need. It feels never-ending,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said. “I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away.”

ICE Detains Immigrants Inside New York City Courthouses

Trump Admin Sends ICE To Minneapolis To Nab Hundreds Of Somali Illegal Immigrants

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