The welfare fraud scam engulfing Minnesota’s Somali community is “the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars through welfare fraud in American history,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for policy Stephen Miller declared.
Miller, who also serves as a homeland security advisor to President Trump, said the fraud operation apparently carried out by numerous Somali migrants in the state will “rock the core of Minnesota politics and American politics.”
“We believe that we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes,” he told Sean Hannity Friday on his “Hannity” show on Fox.
The welfare fraud scam engulfing Minnesota’s Somali community will “rock the core of Minnesota politics and American politics,” Stephen Miller declared. REUTERS
“We believe that we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes,” Miller said in an appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox. Bloomberg via Getty ImagesProsecutors have already charged dozens of state residents with ripping off a program designed to provide food for children during the pandemic.
So far, 59 people have already been convicted in wide-ranging frauds totaling $1 billion.
Overall, federal authorities have charged nearly 80 people.
He spoke amid widening probes coming out of Washington into the rip-off of state social programs that get federal dollars – with increased heat on Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.).
“The scrutiny is intense and it’s going to get more intense and I think he realizes that,” Minnesota Republican floor leader Harry Niska told The Post.
“He’s never gotten this level of scrutiny — he’s definitely going to continue to get skepticism from the administration, from Congress and I expect that is only going to intensify,” he said of Walz.
ICE arrest a Somali migrant convicted of fraud. Homeland Security“The list is so long all of the programs that have just been shoveling money out the door to anyone that sets up an LLC or a nonprofit,” he said.
Trump vowed in an online post to send Somalis “back to where they came from,” and on Tuesday unloaded on Somalis migrants to the country.
“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting. “Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz waits for Crown Prince Haakon of Norway to arrive at the Capitol in St. Paul on Oct. 7, 2025. APMinnesota’s Somali community includes about 80,000 migrants from war-torn Somalia, with the most notable being “squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who The Post revealed has been photographed with one alleged fraudster, Abul Dahir Ibrahim. He has a long criminal history and is under removal orders dating to 2004.
The welfare fraud scam was first revealed in 2022, with prosecutors calling it “largest pandemic fraud in the United States.”
The nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which worked with state and federal agencies to feed kids, was a central piece of the scheme, according to authorities who said the group turned in fake meal count documents and invoices to give the false impression it had provided food aid.
“Their goal was to make as much money for themselves as they could while falsely claiming to feed children during the pandemic,” then-US Attorney Andrew Luger said at the time, when the total cost of the fraud was believed to be $250 million.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks during a news conference, on May 24, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. APSmall Business Sec. Kelly Loeffler has now ordered a fraud probe of pandemic era Paycheck Protection Program loans in the state, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is heading another investigation into whether state taxpayer money allegedly got diverted to al-Shabaab, a US-designated terrorist group.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, announced his own probe of potential health fraud.






