The Manhattan Institute's City Journal investigation into alleged massive fraud is already prompting White House action. The report maintains that billions of Minnesota tax dollars are being stolen through a fraudulent money-laundering scheme. Upon learning of the accusations, President Donald Trump immediately terminated the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Somalis residing in Minnesota, defaulting the holders to their previous immigration status, which could include parole, undocumented classification, or even deportation.
The report claims that "some of the state's welfare funds ended up in the hands of a terrorist group" known as Al-Shabaab. Authors Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo wrote a lengthy piece of investigative journalism, which maintains:
"In many cases, the fraud has allegedly been perpetrated by members of Minnesota's sizeable Somali community. Federal counterterrorism sources confirm that millions of dollars in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab. As one confidential source put it: ‘The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.’"
They went on to say: "If you were to design a welfare program to facilitate fraud, it would probably look a lot like Minnesota's Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program." Its original purpose was to help seniors, addicts, and other underprivileged individuals gain access to housing. What began as a $2.6 million plan quickly escalated to $21 million in 2021, then ballooned to $104 million in 2024.
But the program had to be scrapped once "credible allegations of fraud" were uncovered. In September, the Acting US Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Joe Thompson, announced criminal indictments against eight people, six of whom "are members of Minnesota's Somali community." Thompson told the City Journal, "What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes, draining resources meant for those in need. It feels never ending. I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away."
One particular tentacle of the money laundering web involved a program ostensibly for children with autism. Parents of children who are said to qualify for benefits are alleged to have received kickbacks.
Minnesota Journalist Emily Schrader posted on her X account, "Minnesota investigators uncovered that members of the local Somali Muslim community coached families to fake autism diagnoses so they could tap into a welfare program that exploded from $2.6 million to over $104 million a year."
Minnesota: Follow the Money
Authors Rufo and Thorpe ask the key question: Where did all this money go? Their research revealed that it mostly went back to Somalia:
"The Somali fraud rings have sent huge sums in remittances, or money transfers, from Minnesota to Somalia. According to reports, an estimated 40 percent of households in Somalia get remittances from abroad. In 2023 alone, the Somali diaspora sent back $1.7 billion—more than the Somali government's budget for that year."
Worse still, they believe some of the Minnesota taxpayer money wound up in the hands of the Islamic terror group Al-Shabaab. Citing law enforcement sources, it's suspected that millions were sent through a Somali system of "hawalas" or "informal clan-based money-traders," where significant amounts of cash eventually landed in the terrorists' coffers.
Civil war and political instability caused an exodus of Somalis in the early 1990s. In 2023, it was estimated that over 86 thousand Somali Americans live in Minnesota. In his post on Truth Social, the president wrote: "Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It's OVER!" Thus, proving the often-used proverb that "No good deed goes unpunished."
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