Category: Minnesota somali fraud
Massie proposal would allow Trump to ‘circumvent’ judge’s ruling on ‘rampant fraud’ in Minnesota and other Democratic states
A judge’s ruling temporarily blocking President Donald Trump’s order to end billions in social services funds could have met its match if Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has his way.
The president tried to end federal funds being sent to California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, and Colorado, but U.S. District Judge Arun Submaranian ruled against him on Jan. 9.
‘If you won’t show us a plan, a workable plan, we’re gonna cut it off until you do.’
The group of states had requested a temporary restraining order against the spending freeze and was granted 14 days while the court considers a longer order.
On Wednesday, Massie said he had crafted an amendment to legislation that would allow the president to bypass the ruling.
“After rampant fraud was uncovered at daycare centers in Minnesota and elsewhere, a judge blocked President Trump’s effort to put guardrails on those programs,” the representative wrote on social media.
“I’ve offered this amendment to circumvent the judge’s ruling and empower the President to withhold fraudulent funds,” he added.
He posted the text of the amendment.
“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to make payments under the Child Care and Development Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or the Social Services Block Grant program to any State that the Secretary of Health and Human Services has identified, pursuant to existing law, as failing to comply with Federal eligibility or documentation requirements applicable to such program,” the text reads.
HHS Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr. claimed that the states were not punished for being Democrat-controlled, but rather because they did not comply with the federal request to create a plan to stop fraud.
RELATED: Trump says he will cut federal funds to sanctuary cities and states — beginning in 3 weeks
“The best way to help poor families is to end the fraud so that the money that is available for them. And that’s what we’re doing,” Kennedy said. “If you won’t show us a plan, a workable plan, we’re gonna cut it off until you do.”
The five states had argued in court that the order to end funds was unconstitutional because it could not be based on the “mere allegations or suspicion of fraud.”
The temporary restraining order will end on Friday.
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Massie proposal would allow Trump to ‘circumvent’ judge’s ruling on ‘rampant fraud’ in Minnesota and other Democratic states
A judge’s ruling temporarily blocking President Donald Trump’s order to end billions in social services funds could have met its match if Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has his way.
The president tried to end federal funds being sent to California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, and Colorado, but U.S. District Judge Arun Submaranian ruled against him on Jan. 9.
‘If you won’t show us a plan, a workable plan, we’re gonna cut it off until you do.’
The group of states had requested a temporary restraining order against the spending freeze and was granted 14 days while the court considers a longer order.
On Wednesday, Massie said he had crafted an amendment to legislation that would allow the president to bypass the ruling.
“After rampant fraud was uncovered at daycare centers in Minnesota and elsewhere, a judge blocked President Trump’s effort to put guardrails on those programs,” the representative wrote on social media.
“I’ve offered this amendment to circumvent the judge’s ruling and empower the President to withhold fraudulent funds,” he added.
He posted the text of the amendment.
“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to make payments under the Child Care and Development Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or the Social Services Block Grant program to any State that the Secretary of Health and Human Services has identified, pursuant to existing law, as failing to comply with Federal eligibility or documentation requirements applicable to such program,” the text reads.
HHS Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr. claimed that the states were not punished for being Democrat-controlled, but rather because they did not comply with the federal request to create a plan to stop fraud.
RELATED: Trump says he will cut federal funds to sanctuary cities and states — beginning in 3 weeks
“The best way to help poor families is to end the fraud so that the money that is available for them. And that’s what we’re doing,” Kennedy said. “If you won’t show us a plan, a workable plan, we’re gonna cut it off until you do.”
The five states had argued in court that the order to end funds was unconstitutional because it could not be based on the “mere allegations or suspicion of fraud.”
The temporary restraining order will end on Friday.
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Minnesota day-care exposé journalist strikes again — and part 2 names the ‘hub’ of the fraud wheel
Nick Shirley — the 23-year-old investigative journalist who exposed day-care fraud in Minnesota with a video that has now surpassed 140 million views — is back with part two.
“It’s a whole other aspect to the fraud scheme,” says BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler, who invited Shirley to “The Liz Wheeler Show” to share his latest discoveries.
In the first video, Shirley exposed numerous Somali-run day-care centers in Minnesota as fraudulent operations. Despite receiving millions (or even billions overall) in taxpayer-funded government subsidies through programs like CCAP and Medicaid, these centers provided no actual child-care services. Footage captures Shirley visiting multiple empty facilities with locked doors, blacked-out windows, no visible children, and sketchy “staff members.”
In part two, which dropped last week, Shirley shines a light on non-emergency medical transportation companies in Minnesota, which he alleges are fraudulently billing the state and Medicaid for millions of dollars in rides and services that never actually occurred.
Liz plays a clip from part two in which Shirley and his partner, Minnesota native David Hoch, enter a Somali-run business called “Safari Transportation,” which is registered as a non-emergency medical transportation company. Except when they get inside, they find that it’s a money-wiring business.
These non-emergency medical transportation centers, Shirley explains, are the hub of the wheel of Minnesota fraud. The day-care centers, autism services, assisted living, and food assistance programs are the spokes of the wheel because “in order for these people to receive these services, they need to get moved to locations,” he says.
Shirley gives the example of an adult living at an assisted living center. If he or she needs to go to the doctor, a transportation service is needed. However, many of the transportation businesses in Minnesota are simply shell companies. They submit fake paperwork for services that were never provided while billing the state.
“Like how much money are we talking?” asks Liz.
“We estimated just doing like the national average. Like each NEMT averages around 20 vehicles per company. And then each ride, each trip is around $50, and each vehicle, if they’re out doing the work, they’re doing about 10 trips a day. So we estimated around like $8 million [per day],” says Nick.
This fraud, he explains, doesn’t just rip off the Minnesota taxpayer. All Americans are affected because both “state money and federal money” is being used to reimburse these “transportation companies.”
“Their hands are in our pockets,” says Liz.
To watch the full interview, check out the episode above.
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State Senator Omar Fateh calls for eviction moratorium to help residents ‘terrified’ to go to work in Minnesota
Minnesota state Senator Omar Fateh called for the governor to issue an eviction moratorium to help his “neighbors” who are having a tough time making ends meet under the threat of deportation.
The Trump administration has increased immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota after more and more evidence of government welfare and relief fraud in the Somali community.
‘Our neighbors are terrified to leave their homes, go to work and many are now struggling to make ends meet.’
Fateh said in a statement on social media Monday that Democratic Gov. Tim Walz should place restrictions on evictions to help those affected by the crackdown.
“Minnesota is in an emergency. Our neighbors are terrified to leave their homes, go to work and many are now struggling to make ends meet,” he posted.
“Minnesotans are already stepping up to help their neighbors in need — it is time for the governor to enact an eviction moratorium,” he added.
Many on social media reacted with scorn to the suggestion.
“Go to work? You mean scam and fraud? That is not real work,” one critic responded.
“If they are terrified, they are illegal or commiting fraud[.] Sane law abiding citizens aren’t terrified,” another replied.
“Another scam in the works!” another detractor said.
A similar moratorium was demanded by unions in Los Angeles to protect illegal immigrants from evictions over their inability to continue to work while being hunted by federal immigration enforcement agents.
Fateh, a son of Somali immigrants to Minnesota, is best known for his failed campaign for Minneapolis mayor. Democratic-Farmer-Labor Mayor Jacob Frey took the office with nearly a 6% margin over Fateh in November.
RELATED: Minnesota news outlet is getting wrecked over story on Somali migrants’ economic impact on Minnesota
Walz has also been accused of obstructing investigations into the Somali fraud in Minnesota, though he has denied the allegations and claimed to have ordered criminal probes into the schemes.
Republicans in Minnesota have already drawn up articles of impeachment against Walz.
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Exclusive: Bessent tells Rufo — ‘When the bear trap snaps,’ Minnesota fraudsters and complicit officials will face justice
While fraud rings in Minnesota’s Somali community have been under federal investigation for years, it was investigative journalist and BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo’s reporting that brought the billion-dollar scandals to national attention. Back in November 2025, Rufo published a report titled “The Largest Funder of Al-Shabaab Is the Minnesota Taxpayer,” in which he and co-author Ryan Thorpe alleged that billions of taxpayer funds were being stolen through schemes in Minneapolis’ Somali community and that millions of those funds were being funneled to the Al-Shabaab terror group in Somalia.
Rufo’s reporting sparked massive federal action, including revoking Temporary Protected Status for Somalis, surging Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, freezing child-care funds, and ramping up prosecutions. Most notably, it led Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to visit Minnesota in January 2026 and launch major FinCEN probes into hawala businesses, IRS audits, and enhanced transfer reporting.
In this exclusive BlazeTV interview with Rufo, Bessent shares what his team’s investigations have revealed about Minnesota’s Somali fraud operations and what steps the Treasury is taking to ensure it stops.
Bessent says his team’s investigations confirmed that the fraud schemes were “bigger than anyone thought” and that money — either excess government-issued funds or stolen funds — are indeed being sent illegally out of the country.
One positive result of the investigations into Minnesota’s fraud rings, however, is that they will provide a “model” for future investigations in the other 49 states.
“Just because of the population sizes — California, Illinois, New York — that what’s going on [in Minnesota] is a microcosm of what’s going on there. And it’s like someone on the panel said today: Benefits have been turned into businesses. It is a cottage industry of teaching people how to form multiple LLCs, how to game the system, how to move money around,” says Bessent, pledging to “follow the money” and explore “recoveries” for cheated Americans.
Rufo calls these predominantly Somali-orchestrated fraud rings Minnesota’s “open secret.” Fraudsters were successful largely because they knew that the cultural standard of “Minnesota nice” and politicians’ “fear of being called racist” would result in the turning of blind eyes everywhere.
“What do you think the right attitude should be as you look at these frauds moving forward?” he asks.
“Clearly the governor’s office does not want to do investigations. So we just want the facts. We want to see where they lead, and we want to put the bad guys in jail,” says Bessent.
Further Minnesota’s soft-on-crime policies that “incentivize” criminality need to be addressed. “You could steal hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, and under the Minnesota laws, you might not even get jail time. You might get a series of paroles,” Bessent adds.
“We have the ability to bring in IRS enforcement, and they don’t monkey around. So the incentive is going to be to stop this.”
Rufo then posed the question that conservatives nationwide are eagerly awaiting an answer to: Will we finally see any big names face justice?
“From [Gov. Tim Walz] on down appears to be at a minimum to have turned a blind eye. There are rumors circulating around this building right now that in fact some have been complicit in these schemes. Is that something your office is looking into?” he asks.
“That’s part of following the money. There are evidently some disturbing tapes of AG Ellison in meetings with people who donated to him calling for political favors to stop the investigations. So we’ll see,” says Bessent.
“And Chris, I can guarantee you when the bear trap snaps, we’re going to get these folks.”
To hear the rest of Rufo’s exclusive interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, watch the video above.
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Anna Paulina Luna refers Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison for criminal charges: ‘May justice be swift’
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said she referred the Democratic governor and attorney general in Minnesota to the Department of Justice for criminal charges.
Luna said the action was the result of testimony provided before the Oversight Committee that was evidence of Democratic officials being complicit in fraud schemes in the Somali community.
‘May justice be swift. The American people are tired of being taken advantage of.’
“Based on testimony today, I have enough evidence to believe both [Gov. Tim Walz] and [Attorney General Keith Ellison] were knowingly complicit in a Somali fraud scheme in Minnesota,” she wrote on social media Wednesday.
“Therefore I have referred them BOTH to the DOJ for criminal charges,” she added. “May justice be swift. The American people are tired of being taken advantage of.”
Luna posted a video from questioning from the hearing where she asserted that Walz had known about the large-scale fraud as early as 2017 and 2018 but did little to address the scams.
She went on to say that they should be investigated for possibly violating laws against criminalized conspiracies to defraud the United States.
“Attorney General Ellison agreed on tape to fight Minnesota’s own department of human and health services in exchange for Somali political and financial support,” Luna said.
Minnesota state Rep. Kristin Robbins (R) testified that Walz had allowed the fraud to grow under his watch.
“Tim Walz and his administration have willfully turned a blind eye to crime, in the face of countless whistleblower and auditor reports, as well as stories by local investigative journalists and Bill Glahn, a fellow at Center of the American Experiment,” Robbins said. “These are actual crimes that must be punished. They are crimes against our moral values that erode trust in government. Governor Walz has known about fraud for years and failed to act.”
RELATED: Tim Walz says Minnesota is ‘at war’ with the federal government after fatal ICE shooting
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) had previously called on Walz and Ellison to provide “documents, communications, and records” to the committee related to the fraud. They are also called to testify before the committee in February.
Walz has announced that he would not seek a third term in a re-election campaign after his current term ends. Many suspect the growing scrutiny over the fraud allegations forced him to make the decision.
“Minnesota’s Corrupt Governor will possibly leave office before his Term is up but, in any event, will not be running again because he was caught, REDHANDED, along with Ilhan Omar, and others of his Somali friends, stealing Tens of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars,” President Donald Trump responded on social media.
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