Fraud in Minnesota Isn’t Going Away; Don’t Get Distracted

Step outside in Minneapolis. Drive downtown. Grab dinner. Meet friends. Drop off a kid at practice. It feels normal. Traffic moves. Streets are calm. The only visible disruption is the occasional protester on an overpass waving a sign. As a resident of the city of Minneapolis, this is our reality.

Now turn on cable news or scroll social media and you’d think the city is under siege. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is branded as “secret police” and “gestapo.” Communities are supposedly being terrorized by ICE agents. Businesses are allegedly shuttering in fear. Radical elected officials describe ICE as everything from fascist squads to modern-day storm troopers, seemingly fantasizing about a Civil War. The hyperbolic language is designed to shock, incite and, more notably, to distract.

Because while the rhetoric screams that screams “fire!” and elected officials wish you would look away, Minnesota is grappling with a very real crisis: massive public-program fraud—likely to be the most widespread in United States history. Federal and state investigations have exposed sprawling schemes involving Medicaid, child-care, housing assistance, and autism services. Auditors flagged billions in questionable claims over recent years, with prosecutors securing dozens of convictions in one of the largest fraud crackdowns in state history. In September 2025, the Department of Justice demonstrated how serious this matter is by filing lawsuits against state and local jurisdictions for obstructing federal immigration enforcement.

Those are facts, not inflammatory rhetoric.

Instead of answering for oversight failures and lax enforcement, elected officials change the subject. They stoke panic. They paint federal agents as villains. They flood the zone with accusations, so voters stop asking hard questions about how taxpayer dollars vanished and why repeat offenders were allowed to keep gaming the system.

On the ground, Minnesotans see through it. Daily life does not match the apocalyptic narrative online. But relentless alarmism has consequences. When headlines warn of chaos, families stay home. Tourists rethink trips. Small restaurants and shops—still recovering from inflation and pandemic disruptions—lose foot traffic. That is economic self-sabotage, fueled by political theater.

Minnesota cannot afford that. From 2019 to 2024, the state’s GDP per-capita growth ranked near the bottom nationally, roughly 38th overall. Net domestic migration also lagged, placing in the low forties as more residents moved out than in. At the same time, Minnesota boasts undeniable strengths: one of the most educated workforces in America, top-five rankings in patents per capita, and growing opportunities in data centers, clean technology, and health care innovation.

The story should be about unleashing that potential—cutting waste, lowering the tax burden on families and employers, and restoring confidence that government programs help the people they are meant to serve.

Instead, Minnesotans are being misdirected.

The radical attacks on immigration enforcement are not new. Over the past several years, assaults and threats against federal officers nationwide have surged into the four-digit percentages, according to law-enforcement reporting. Demonization has consequences. ICE is on a mission to remove the “worst first”—violent offenders, traffickers, aggravated assaulters, repeat criminals—individuals who present the biggest public safety risk to our communities. When sanctuary policies block cooperation, dangerous individuals wind up back on the streets.

Minnesotans deserve better than scare tactics and slogans.

They deserve leaders who confront fraud head-on, cooperate with federal investigations, and protect taxpayers. They deserve policies that encourage job creation instead of driving residents and capital to other states. They deserve a government focused on public safety, fiscal responsibility, and the rule of law.

Minnesota has always been more than political theatrics. It is a state of discovery and industry, of lakes and farmland, of medical breakthroughs and manufacturing grit. A place built by people who work hard, play by the rules, and expect their leaders to do the same.

So go out. Eat local. Support small businesses. Ignore the manufactured panic. The chaos on television and your social media screens is exaggerated—designed to distract and inflame. The corruption uncovered by investigators is not.

Reject the theater. Demand accountability. Clean up government. Restore confidence. Let Minnesota become—once again—the model of prosperity, safety, and common sense it is capable of being.