U.S. President Donald Trump is stirring controversy when he says a major Minnesota benefits fraud case is overwhelmingly linked to undocumented Somali immigrants, sparking a new political and racial flare-up that has drawn sharp reactions from state leaders and renewed scrutiny of his longtime attacks on Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated, “A large portion of the fraud in Minnesota, up to 90%, is caused by people who came to our country illegally from Somalia. He went on to take personal aim at Omar, calling her an ‘ungrateful loser’ and reviving baseless allegations about her marriage, adding: “Such low life can only be a liability to the greatness of our country. Send them back where they came from, Somalia.”
Walz pushes back, accuses Trump of politicization
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office was quick to respond after Republican lawmakers invited him to testify before a GOP-led congressional committee in February.
“We are always happy to work with Congress, even though this committee has a history of holding circus hearings that have nothing to do with the issue at hand,” Walz’s office said in a statement to Fox News. “While the governor was working to put crooks in jail, the president was selling pardons to release them.”
Fraud case and federal intervention
Federal prosecutors have charged 98 people in what the Justice Department described as the largest case of pandemic-related public benefits fraud in US history. The program allegedly diverted about $300 million in grants intended to provide free meals to children — meals that prosecutors say never existed.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said this week that 85 of the defendants are of “Somali descent” while 57 people have already been convicted. The nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future was at the center of the scheme, according to prosecutors.
Republican officials accuse Minnesota’s Democratic leadership of ignoring early warnings. “When whistleblowers raised concerns, they were told not to say anything for fear of being labeled racist or Islamophobic,” said Rep. Kristin Robbins, a Republican.
Democrats deny the allegation, saying the investigation began years ago and the convictions are still ongoing.
Freezing funding and controlling immigration
The Trump administration has escalated its response, freezing child care payments to Minnesota and demanding a comprehensive audit of day care centers and other welfare programs.
“We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota,” Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill wrote on X, citing allegations that the state “directed millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent preschools.”
The Department of Homeland Security said it had sent hundreds of investigators to Minneapolis, while FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the bureau had “increased personnel and investigative resources” to eliminate what it called “large-scale fraud schemes.”
Republican Congressman Tom Emmer went further, calling for the “denaturalization and deportation of any Somali involved in fraud in Minnesota.”
The administration also ended temporary protected status for Somalis and indicated it may pursue denaturalization in certain cases. “We’re also not afraid to use denaturalization,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.
Somali community under pressure
Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the United States, estimated at about 80,000 people. Immigrant rights advocates say fraud investigations are being used to stigmatize an entire community.
Federal officials dispute that characterization, saying the crackdown is targeting criminal networks, not ethnicity. Still, critics say Trump’s rhetoric risks tying fraud allegations to immigration status and national origin.
Trump’s long-running feud with Ilhan Omar
Trump’s latest comments revive his long-running attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born American who has been one of his most vocal critics.
In September 2025, Omar called Trump a “lying fool” after he claimed he had spoken to the Somali president about deporting her. “From denying Somalia has a president to making up a story, President Trump is a lying lunatic,” Omar wrote on X.
Trump has repeatedly questioned Omar’s loyalty and citizenship, suggesting that she married her brother to gain American citizenship — a claim that has resurfaced in his rhetoric.
At the time, Trump also called for Omar to be removed and criticized Somalia as “one of the worst and most corrupt countries in the world”, remarks that drew widespread condemnation.
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