Minnesota’s $1 Billion Social-Program Fraud Fuels New Political Flashpoints

Overview

• Commentary cites prosecutors’ estimate that roughly $1 billion was siphoned from Minnesota social-service programs over five years, with about 87 people charged and 61 convictions reported.
• Feeding Our Future is described as a core scheme, with prosecutors alleging more than 250 fake meal sites that drew over $250 million from pandemic child-nutrition funds.
• Writers detail alleged fraud in the EIDBI autism therapy program, including billing for services not provided, recruiting children without diagnoses, and paying parents monthly kickbacks, with one case showing $850,000 billed for a single child and $438,000 paid.
• The political fight intensified after President Donald Trump declared on social media that he would terminate TPS for Somalis in Minnesota and claimed billions were missing, drawing denunciations from Rep. Ilhan Omar and Somali community leaders.
• One article references outside law-enforcement sources reported by City Journal who allege hawala transfers from Minnesota to Somalia that reached Al‑Shabaab, a claim presented as an allegation rather than a Justice Department finding.