The Minnesota Board of Pardons — which includes Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison — voted unanimously to pardon an illegal immigrant from Laos with three assault convictions, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
At Xayasounethone Chandee was convicted of assault in 1992, and an immigration judge ordered his deportation in 1995, DHS said. Chandee also had a conviction from 2008 for two felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon, according to the agency.
Chandee entered the country as a Green Card holder when he was a minor. He was later stripped of his immigration status due to his criminal convictions, DHS said.
The board called an emergency meeting Monday after learning that the Trump administration could deport Chandee this week, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/05/04/minnesota-grants-pardon-to-at-ricky-chandee-who-was-facing-deportation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Minnesota Public Radio.
DHS called the board&#8217;s decision &#8220;absolute insanity,&#8221; adding that it could foil its plans to deport him.
“Minnesota&#8217;s sanctuary politicians&#8217; pardon took away this violent thug’s qualifying convictions that made him removable from the U.S.,&#8221; Acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement on Thursday.
Chandee applied for a pardon shortly before federal immigration agents arrested him in January, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
The Clemency Review Commission, which recommends clemency decisions to the pardon board, voted 6-0 in favor of Chandee&#8217;s pardon, the outlet reported. The board wasn&#8217;t scheduled to meet until June, but moved up the meeting after learning that Chandee could be deported within days.
“There is nothing in this application, or nothing in the facts before us that would suggest that Mr. Chandee is a danger to the public in any way, shape or form,” Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, who sits on the board, said of the pardon. “He has a lot of family support, which is obviously very important, and he&#8217;s had that support over the last 29 years.”
A federal appeals court in Louisiana paused Chandee&#8217;s deportation for 14 days after his attorney filed a request last week, according to Minnesota Public Radio. The federal government is likely to challenge Chandee&#8217;s pardon, his attorney, Linus Chan, said.
Chan also argued that the 2008 conviction never happened, the outlet reported. There was also no mention of it in his clemency application.
“There is no such conviction, and I am reaching out to DHS about where this information is coming from,&#8221; Chan said.
The commission recommended clemency for all applicants, except one, who were at risk of deportation, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Untitled design – 2026-05-07T083536.407

Blue State Pardons Illegal Immigrant With Rap Sheet To Block Deportation Efforts

deportation

Keith Ellison

Minnesota

Tim Walz

Vice President JD Vance compared Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz to an &#8220;arsonist trying to claim credit for the work of the fire department&#8221; after Walz praised his administration&#8217;s role in a series of anti-fraud raids on daycares around Minneapolis earlier this week.
Vance told Fox News host Will Cain on Wednesday that the Trump administration &#8220;really did not get much help at all from the Governor&#8217;s office&#8221; despite Walz&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2049153096358481927">claims</a> that state agencies helped initiate the investigation.
Walz said Tuesday that raids at nearly two dozen daycares and learning centers were conducted &#8220;by state and federal law enforcement &#8230; because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it.&#8221;
Vance <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2049540492795240765">pushed back</a> sharply.
&#8220;This is like the arsonist trying to claim credit for the work of the fire department because Tim Walz let this fraud happen under his watch, whether he was complicit in it directly himself or just turned a blind eye towards it.&#8221;
&#8220;Where we did actually get some help was from some state and local law enforcement officers who we assigned to the federal task force because the state government wasn&#8217;t doing anything,&#8221; Vance added. &#8220;All credit goes to people on the ground: the state officers, the federal officers who are working to uncover this fraud.&#8221;
Vance, who was tapped by President Donald Trump in February to lead the administration&#8217;s crackdown on state-level fraud, <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2049586471967830054">said</a> that the White House&#8217;s anti-fraud task force has moved quickly to investigate suspected abuses, especially in Minnesota.
The probe gained national attention after independent journalist Nick Shirley posted videos in December raising questions about fraud tied to several Somali-run daycare and learning centers in the Twin Cities area.
&#8220;These investigations take a long time, so I was asking myself, &#8216;How quickly can we start getting into some real investigatory work, court-issued warrants, actually going door-to-door and finding out what&#8217;s going on?&#8217; People told me it would take at least six months,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve gone from Nick Shirley&#8217;s video about the Minneapolis fraud schemes to &#8230; judges issuing warrants for this investigation in a matter of three months.&#8221;
Vance added that the federal government&#8217;s anti-fraud task force includes 280 law enforcement officers looking into the issue.
&#8220;We really have the most accelerated, aggressive anti-fraud operation that we&#8217;ve ever seen from the federal government,&#8221; the vice president said, adding, &#8220;This is far from done, but we&#8217;re making a lot of good progress.&#8221;
Federal agents with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security executed search warrants Tuesday at 22 sites, primarily daycare and learning centers, many of which are Somali-owned. No arrests were made during the raids, though dozens of individuals have been charged with fraud in recent months as federal prosecutors uncovered a massive fraud scheme targeting numerous Minnesota state programs.
&#8220;The President&#8217;s War on Fraud is working, as the task force and the entire Trump administration continue to work tirelessly to expose Fraudsters who have scammed the American people out of billions of dollars,&#8221; a Vance spokesperson told The Daily Wire on background.
Walz, who ended his bid for a third term as governor in January amid scrutiny over the scandal, has defended his administration&#8217;s response, arguing that state officials properly flagged fraudulent activity.
In his final State of the State address on Tuesday night, Walz claimed that he has done more than Republican-led states to crack down on fraud.
&#8220;We’ve created additional checks and balances. We have brought on more investigators, more auditors, and more law enforcement agencies, as well as an outside firm to take a look at high-risk programs,&#8221; he said. &#8220;People who have ripped us off are getting caught, and they are going to jail.&#8221;
&nbsp;

JD Vance/Tim Walz

Vance Rips Tim Walz For Taking Credit For Anti-Fraud Raids

Fraud

JD Vance

Trump Administration

Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), who accused the Trump administration of exploiting his state&#8217;s fraud issue for political purposes, is now taking credit for law enforcement <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-wave-hits-as-feds-raid-more-minnesota-daycare-sites-in-growing-fraud-scandal?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=New+Wave+Hits+As+Feds+Raid+More+Minnesota+Daycare+Sites+In+Growing+Fraud+Scandal">raids</a> on more than 20 businesses in the Minneapolis area related to the federal government&#8217;s anti-fraud crackdown.
Walz <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2049153093841924376">addressed</a> the raids in a social media post on Tuesday, claiming that his administration is putting fraudsters &#8220;behind bars.&#8221; The governor added that the court-approved search warrants were executed early Tuesday morning as part of a joint federal-state operation.
&#8220;If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today. We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it,&#8221; Walz wrote. &#8220;Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it.&#8221;
FBI Director Kash Patel <a href="https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2049188920663916616?s=20">responded</a> to Walz on X and said that federal officials obtained and executed all of the search warrants on Tuesday.
&#8220;Come again? This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today,&#8221; Patel said. &#8220;But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship.&#8221;
At least 22 businesses were targeted in the raids. Many of the businesses being investigated by the feds are linked to Minnesota&#8217;s large Somali population. One of the locations raided by the feds on Tuesday morning was the now infamous Quality &#8220;Learing&#8221; Center, whose misspelled sign became the center of Minnesota&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-quality-learing-center-is-officially-closed-state-records-show">fraud controversy</a> in late December.
On Tuesday morning, federal agents were seen taking photos and moving a portable file case inside one daycare in South Minneapolis, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minneapolis-federal-agents-daycares-suspected-fraud/">reported</a>.
Walz, who has been <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-minnesota-governor-walz-and-attorney-general-ellison-lied-about-knowledge-of-fraud-and-silenced-whistleblowers/#:~:text=Testimony%20and%20information%20obtained%20by,Employees%20sounded%20alarms.">accused</a> of lying about the scale of fraud in his state, admitted in a testimony before Congress earlier this year that state government programs have faced fraud problems. Walz, however, argued that his administration has been properly investigating and prosecuting fraud. In late December, Walz raged against President Donald Trump after the president moved to freeze federal child care payments to Minnesota over ongoing fraud issues.
&#8220;We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue — but this has been [Trump&#8217;s] plan all along,&#8221; Walz <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2006159722940879183">said</a>. &#8220;He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.&#8221;
Walz also refused to cooperate with federal agents during the Trump administration&#8217;s Operation Metro Surge, which focused on deportations of illegal immigrants, but also included federal agents looking into suspected fraud. The operation was launched shortly after independent journalist Nick Shirley brought attention back onto Minnesota and Governor Walz with his reporting on Somali-owned daycares in December.
Fraud in state-run programs exploded under Walz&#8217;s watch going back to 2018. Since then, dozens of Somalis have been arrested and charged with defrauding numerous Minnesota social programs, including the federally funded Feeding Our Future nonprofit, which engaged in a massive fraud scheme during the COVID pandemic. The scandal also derailed Walz&#8217;s hopes for a third term as governor as he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/walz-governor-fraud-klobuchar.html">announced</a> in January that he was ending his re-election bid because of the growing fraud issues in his state.
After taking credit for the raids on suspected fraudsters on Tuesday, Walz called on the federal government to investigate the killings of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot to death by federal immigration agents in January.
&#8220;Now let’s work on a joint investigation into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — instead of cherry picking when we seek justice and when we turn a blind eye,&#8221; he wrote.

Tim Walz Brags About Fighting Somali Fraud. Kash Patel Is Not Amused.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz launched a new political action committee designed to do something he failed to do as a vice presidential candidate and as governor: win in rural areas.
Walz announced Monday he was launching a project called Small Town PAC with the goal of wooing rural voters to the Democratic Party. In recent years, Democrats have increasingly lost ground in rural areas with most of their support coming from major cities.
“Today, we’re launching Small Town PAC. We’re going to show up in small towns, organize in places too many people have given up on, and build power with the folks who call these places home,” Walz said. “If Democrats want to win in more places, we’ve got to start showing up in more places.”
The Small Town PAC website says that “rebuilding Democratic leadership starts with real conversations about the issues that actually impact people and the courage to challenge the powerful interests pulling communities apart.”
During the 2024 election, the Harris-Walz ticket won just nine of Minnesota’s 87 counties, with their support primarily coming in the population centers of Rochester, Minneapolis, and Duluth. The Trump-Vance ticket won the rest of the state’s more rural counties.
In his two governor’s races, Walz performed slightly better, winning 13 counties in 2022 and peaking at 21 in 2018. One <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/minnesota-poll-walz-approval-slips-161900149.html">poll</a> last year from the Minnesota Star Tribune found that six out of ten voters outside of the Twin Cities area disapproved of Walz. During his time in office, Walz has pushed radical Left policies from gun control to transgender ideology to abortion.
For the past three presidential cycles, Republicans have dominated in rural areas while Democrats have turned to cities. Between 2016 and 2024, Democrat candidates have consistently won 421 counties, while Republican candidates have swept 2,559 counties, and 132 counties have split votes, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/County-level_presidential_election_voting_trends,_2016-2024">according</a> to Ballotpedia.
Walz attacked former opponent Vice President JD Vance in a statement on why he was launching the PAC.
“Republicans like JD Vance like to portray their small-town neighbors as petty, resentful, and small-minded. I disagree,” he said. “I think the problem facing small towns are Republicans like JD Vance.”
Responding to the criticism, Vance’s office pointed to the large amounts of fraud that have been flagged in Minnesota.
“The problem facing many small towns in Minnesota is that Tim Walz gives their money to fraudulent daycares,” the vice president’s office <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2026/04/20/trumps-inconvenient-truth-00880268">told</a> POLITICO.
Walz faced other criticism over the announcement of his new political project.
“If Democrats want to win in small towns again, this is the last person they should listen to,” <a href="https://x.com/HarryNiska/status/2046263996936826918">said</a> Rep. Harry Niska. &#8220;In eight years as Governor, he has shown voters across Greater Minnesota that the DFL no longer represents them.”

Second And Last Day Of Global Progressive Mobilisation In Barcelona

Tim Walz Is Back, And It Seems He Hasn’t Learned A Thing

Elections

J.D. Vance

Politics

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:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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

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

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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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

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

Minneapolis Live Blog

LIVE UPDATES: Minnesota AG Spars With Republicans In Fiery Senate Hearing

Donald Trump

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Following the brokering of &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; cooperation with local authorities in Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan announced a massive &#8220;drawdown&#8221; of federal immigration agents during a press conference on Wednesday morning.
Starting Wednesday, 700 federal immigration officers and agents will be leaving the Twin Cities area, Homan said. The personnel change comes after Homan said he secured deals with &#8220;an unprecedented number of counties&#8221; that have agreed to &#8220;allow ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets.&#8221;
That will leave 2,000 federal immigration agents in Minnesota, along with all the teams working on fraud investigations, Homan said.
The former ICE chief also met with Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, along with local police chiefs, last week.
&#8220;We currently have an unprecedented number of counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets, unprecedented cooperation. And I&#8217;ll say it again, this is efficient, it requires only one or two officers to assume custody of a criminal alien target rather than eight or ten officers going into the community and arresting that public safety threat,&#8221; Homan said.
&#8220;More officers taking custody of criminal aliens directly from the jails, means less officers on the street doing criminal operations. This is smart law enforcement, not less law enforcement. This is safer for the community, safer for the officers, and safer for the alien,&#8221; he said.
Homan insisted that the Trump administration isn&#8217;t &#8220;surrendering&#8221; its mass deportation campaign.
Going forward, Border Patrol and ICE will now work together &#8220;under one unified command&#8221; rather than the separate &#8220;chains of command&#8221; they were previously operating under, according to Homan.
&#8220;Any large amount of force, an operation I’ve ever been involved with, there’s one chain of command,&#8221; he said.
Homan also clarified that while arrest operations will be &#8220;targeted,&#8221; focusing on nabbing the worst illegal immigrant criminals first, anyone who is in the country illegally is still on the table.
President Donald Trump sent Homan to Minneapolis last week, replacing Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who was known for his aggressive and made-for-TV raids. Bovino&#8217;s tactics also included more sweeping patrols.
Bovino has since returned to his duties as the Border Patrol chief of California&#8217;s El Centro sector.
The leadership change came after two anti-ICE protesters were shot and killed by federal immigration agents.
To prevent further bloodshed, Homan said he&#8217;s asked local police chiefs to respond when federal immigration agents are up against violent protesters.
&#8220;Every chief I talked to, every one of them promised to respond to any public safety issue when our officers are out doing their sworn duty and people start crossing the line and they start impeding and interfering,&#8221; Homan said.
&#8220;There&#8217;s still more sheriffs we are in discussions with and are talking to, but I have not heard the word no,&#8221; he added.
Minnesota Sheriffs Association executive director James Stuart told The Daily Wire that the &#8220;vast majority&#8221; of sheriffs in the state want better communication with ICE, while also advocating for a draw down of federal agents.
Stuart said the deals with ICE and local sheriffs are not yet complete, adding that it&#8217;s &#8220;a work in progress&#8221; that could take weeks or months.
In an effort to increase transparency, the Trump administration will deploy body-worn cameras for all federal immigration officers in Minneapolis.

US-IMMIGRATION-ICE-SHOOTING

Homan Strikes Deal In Minnesota, Yanks Hundreds Of Immigration Officers

jacob frey

Tom Homan

White House border czar Tom Homan arrived in Minneapolis on Monday to address the ongoing illegal immigration raids and anti-ICE protests, but did not appear publicly until Thursday morning, when he spoke at a press conference.
Homan, who has been in meetings with federal, state, and local officials since he touched down in the Twin Cities, made clear that he wasn&#8217;t there for &#8220;photo ops or headlines.&#8221;
President Donald Trump sent the former acting ICE chief to Minneapolis to replace Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who was known for parading through the city flanked by fellow agents in a more aggressive show of force.
Homan indicated that he was there to clean up a mess.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not here because the federal government has carried out its mission perfectly,&#8221; Homan said.
&#8220;I come here looking for solutions. I do not want to hear that everything&#8217;s been done here has been perfect. Nothing&#8217;s ever perfect. Anything can be improved on. And what we&#8217;ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book. The mission is going to improve because of the changes we&#8217;re making internally. No agency organization is perfect,&#8221; Homan said.
&#8220;President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made. That&#8217;s exactly what I&#8217;m doing here,&#8221; he said.
During his meetings with local officials, Homan has already made strides. Homan met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, all of whom have been critical of the immigration raids.
Still, they were able to agree on some things, including a loose pledge from Ellison to allow ICE into county jails and a promise from police chiefs to respond to 911 calls when agents are under assault.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard many people want to know why we&#8217;re talking to people who they don&#8217;t consider friends of the administration. Bottom line is you can&#8217;t fix problems if you don&#8217;t have discussions,&#8221; Homan said. &#8220;What we did agree upon is not to release public safety arrests back in the community, and they could be lawfully transferred to ICE.&#8221;
If Ellison can deliver on his word, the federal presence in the state will decrease, Homan said.
&#8220;Attorney General Ellison, and he has clarified for me that county jails may notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety risks so ICE can take custody of them upon the release from the jail,&#8221; Homan said.
&#8220;More agents in the jail means less agents in the street. This is common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it, draw down the number of people here because we have the efficiency and safety of the jails and the prison,&#8221; he said.
Homan has opposed the strategy of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Bovino, whose focus has been on meeting quotas rather than expending federal resources on hunting down the worst criminal illegal immigrants roaming Minneapolis, Homeland Security sources recently told The Daily Wire.
That all looks to be changing with Homan&#8217;s arrival in the Twin Cities.
&#8220;All operations will be targeted, but the prioritization [is] going to be criminal aliens, public safety threats, and national security threats&#8230; we&#8217;ve got a lot of them to keep us busy&#8230; if you&#8217;re in the country illegally, you&#8217;re never off the table,&#8221; Homan said.
Homan also appeared to depart from Noem&#8217;s earlier messaging regarding Saturday&#8217;s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. Hours after the shooting, Noem labeled Pretti a &#8220;domestic terrorist&#8221; who intended &#8220;to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
Unlike Noem, Homan made clear that he wouldn&#8217;t speak on the incident until the investigation concludes. He also noted that if any agents are not adhering to their &#8220;standards of conduct &#8230; they&#8217;ll be dealt with.&#8221;
&#8220;From day one, I said on any of these shootings as a career law enforcement officer, we&#8217;ll let &#8230; the investigation play out and let it go where it goes. I&#8217;m not going to come out making any comments I think is right, wrong. Do I have an opinion? Yeah, my personal opinion, but I&#8217;m not going to share that with you. I&#8217;m going to tell you, let the investigation play out and see where it goes.&#8221;

Border Czar Tom Homan Speaks In Minneapolis During Operation Metro Surge

Homan’s Presser Sheds Light On Trump Admin’s Shift On Minneapolis Immigration Raids

Kristi Noem

Menu