Turns Out the Real ‘Minnesota Miracle’ Was How Much Fraud They Buried

Minnesota has found itself in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons. The explosion of fraud, driven largely by the East African community in Minnesota in partnership with a corrupt state administration, isn’t new to readers of this paper. About 65% of Minnesotans say government fraud is “somewhat” or “very” widespread, according to AFPI polling conducted in July. This was long before the latest headlines confirmed it. Yet that does not make it less embarrassing to see the policy failures of Minnesota’s state government, led by Gov. Tim Walz, plastered across every news outlet in the country.

Former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andy Luger, who served under both the Obama and Biden administrations, said, “No other states have had the kinds of problems we’ve had with government fraud.” And when Joe Thompson was named Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota during President Trump’s first term, he continued to sound the alarm, warning that the “Star of the North” state is “staring into a bottomless well of fraud.”

What makes it even worse is that Walz and his administration have done nothing to hold those who enabled this fraud under his watch accountable. Not one bureaucrat who missed or ignored the obvious red flags has been fired. No apology from Walz. Despite his attempts to take credit for something he didn’t do—something Walz has plenty of familiarity with and a long track record of doing—he now claims he is responsible for putting people in jail for this fraud. The reality is that the charges and convictions have been brought by the federal government where the state failed.

Thankfully, President Trump and his administration are putting Minnesota first and getting to the root of the problem. The Treasury Department announced Dec. 1 an investigation into how Minnesotans’ fraudulently stolen tax dollars are being sent back to Somalia, where they are allegedly skimmed to fund the terror group al-Shabaab.

The Department of Homeland Security has begun to crack down on unfettered ‘America Last’ immigration policy, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement launching efforts to keep the streets of Minnesota safe, end the widespread crime plaguing our communities and ensure immigration laws are enforced and respected. The Department of Transportation has warned Minnesota to correct its illegal granting of commercial driver’s licenses, the White House issued a briefing highlighting the problems facing Minnesota, and President Trump himself continues to shine a light on how Minnesota and Minnesotans have been taken advantage of by our weak governor. Dr. Oz and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said “they have never seen anything like this,” and are forcing Minnesota to take corrective actions including sharing weekly updates about fraud, verifying providers are legitimate and developing a plan to prevent additional fraud. The actions the Trump administration is taking are common sense and put Minnesota First.

Bad faith left-wing voices took to this page to decry what they call racism against the Somali community for the president and his administration cleaning up Minnesota’s mess along with President Trump and the media pointing out that, of the 84 people convicted of government service fraud in Minnesota, 76 are of East African descent. One writer, who was convicted of committing immigration fraud himself, brazenly blamed the government rather than the fraudsters who committed the crimes. Perhaps he thinks it was the government’s fault because its dress was too short.

Dishonest allegations of racism from the fraudsters behind Feeding Our Future slowed down investigations, provided them with cover in the media from sympathetic journalists and bought them time to continue their theft of hundreds of millions of dollars. Minnesota is a welcoming and generous state, but we can’t make the same mistake twice by letting allegations of racism and blind opposition to President Trump prevent the protection of taxpayer resources. As longtime media personality Jason DeRusha said last week, “It’s just numbers. It’s not racism. It’s just this is the reality. ... We can’t be afraid of racism when it comes to taxpayer money.” DeRusha is right, and it’s past time for the state to have an honest conversation, unafraid of bad-faith accusations of racism, and do its part. Until then, this Minnesotan is thankful that President Trump is putting Minnesotans first.