Minnesota has become a cesspool of fraud under the Walz Administration and is gaining national attention. The influx of Somali migrants has led to unprecedented levels of fraud totalling billions of dollars. Detailed reporting from Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute cite three federal detectives that say MN tax dollars funded al-Qaida linked Muslim terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

To make matters worse, the reporting says that Minnesota taxpayers are the LARGEST FUNDERS of Al-Shabaab in the world!

In 2023 alone, over $1.7B was sent back to Somalia, which is larger than their government’s annual budget and contributes 30-50% of Somalia’s GDP. This is all in addition to various humanitarian projects and funding they receive. Of course, many in the Somali community believe it is the responsibility of the U.S. to provide a welfare state for them here and provide a welfare state for the country of Somalia too.

President Trump recently announced that he will be terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota. This sets the stage to allow the Trump Administration to begin deportation operations of criminal Somalis.

In response, Walz argued that Trump was racist by targeting Somalis which perfectly exemplified what the Thorpe/Rufo reporting said was the issue. The reporting reads “...when imported clan loyalties collide with a political class too timid to offend”. 

Out of fear of offending Somalis, Democrats have chosen to pretend there is not a clear link between Somalians and mass fraud. Two former FBI officials say most large-scale fraud rings in Minnesota have been perpetrated by Somalis and even a Somali from AG Keith Ellison’s office has admitted that fraud has been unique to the Somali community.

Between all of the charges brought by former acting U.S. Attorney for MN Joe Thompson on cases related to Feeding our Future, autism centers, child care centers, and housing stabilization services, billions of MN tax dollars have been stolen. Thompson notes that the fraud is not just overbilling but oftentimes completely fictitious companies are created with the sole purpose of defrauding the system.

In most cases of the fraud that has become so rampant, the funding or distribution of funding comes from MN’s Dept. of Human Services (DHS). The state legislature passes an omnibus bill each biennium (every two years) funding each state Department including the DHS. A corresponding policy omnibus bill typically passes each biennium as well. Until 2023, DHS and the Dept. of Health were within the same state Department.

The 2023-2024 Democrat trifecta control of MN’s government increased spending to record levels which provided funds for much of this fraud. Despite A4L and grassroots sounding the alarm on out-of-control spending that is causing fraud, Republicans failed to deliver meaningful change after gaining control of the State House.

With Republican Lisa Demuth controlling the Speakership, the legislature passed the 2nd LARGEST budget in MN history. Tim Walz and Lisa Demuth have each publicly bragged about their Uniparty deal that was crafted behind closed doors. Included in their unconstitutional omnibus bills was the DHS funding bill.

As said before, it has been known for YEARS that massive fraud, notably from Somalis, was being done through money appropriated through the DHS omnibus spending bill. In 2023, only three Republicans joined Democrats in support of the DHS omnibus bill (SF2934) with that being Reps Elliott Engen (36A), Andrew Myers (45A), and Danny Nadeau (34A). Engen is now running for State Auditor and his previous vote(s) may have conservatives question whether he is prepared to take on fraud. Engen even took to social media to claim that Democrats are solely responsible for this fraud despite his vote for this legislation alongside Democrats during the Dem trifecta. See Engen’s hypocritical X post below:

Action 4 Liberty previously reported on the 31 RINO legislators who voted for the 2025 DHS omnibus spending bill (HF3) which contained funding for fraud uncovered by federal prosecutors. The 31 RINOs who voted for the fraud-ridden omnibus bill included Sen. Jim Abeler (SD35) and Reps. Dave Baker (16B), Matt Bliss (2B), Greg Davids (26B), Lisa Demuth (13A), Jeff Dotseth (11A), Bidal Duran (2A), Mary Franson (12B), Steve Gander (1B), Dawn Gillman (17A), Josh Heintzeman (6B), Walter Hudson (30A), Spencer Igo (7A), Wayne Johnson (41A), Andrew Myers (45A), Danny Nadeau (34A), Jim Nash (48A), Harry Niska (31B), Tim O’Driscoll (13B), Bernie Perryman (14A), Marion Rarick (29B), Aaron Repinski (26A), Joe Schomacker (21A), Erica Schwartz (18A), Peggy Scott (31B), Tom Sexton (19B), Roger Skraba (3A), Paul Torkelson (15B), Cal Warwas (7B), Jeff Witte (57B), and Natalie Zeleznikar (3B).

The 2025 bill was passed in June, which was before MN DHS temporary commissioner Shireen Gandhi’s letter abolishing the housing stabilization program was sent to the federal government due to the fraud that has been uncovered. This action was taken by the Department on its own without binding legislative direction, highlighting Republican failure to deliver serious action.

On Monday, Nov. 24th, House Republicans put out a letter to U.S. Attorney for MN Daniel Rosen stating their support for DOJ prosecutorial investigations into this matter, yet they left out the elephant in the room by leaving out the fact that mass Somali migration has caused these issues. Despite the press release not packing all the punches it deserves, 50/67 GOP state Reps signed on causing the following to be notably absent from this fight: Reps. Pam Altendorf (20A), Paul Anderson (12A), Dave Baker (16B), Matt Bliss (2B), Elliott Engen (36A), Josh Heintzeman (6B), Jim Joy (4B), Ron Kresha (10A), Bryan Lawrence (27B), Joe McDonald (29A), Andrew Myers (45A), Danny Nadeau (34A), Bjorn Olson (22A), Aaron Repinski (26A), Joe Schomacker (21A), Nolan West (32A), and Natalie Zeleznikar (3B). See press release below:

Republicans failed to leverage their House control to combat fraud or make meaningful change. While the Democrats oversaw the payments in the Executive branch, many RINO legislators, including the GOP leadership, played right into the Democrats’ hand.

In fact, every single GOP State Representative except Reps. Tom Dippel (41B) and Drew Roach (58B) justified fraud by seating radical leftist Brad Tabke (54A) after it was exposed that 21 ballots were trashed and the margin of victory was just 14 votes. The GOP gave up its own leverage and acquiesced to the Democrats.

The GOP’s favorite claim of accomplishment is the establishment of the Fraud Committee. Unfortunately for the committee, it does not have the ability to compel individuals to testify, legislation is not required to pass through it for floor votes, and they have failed to uncover any fraud on their own. In example after example, fraud that is uncovered has been done by the media, federal prosecutors, and the legislative auditor, NOTHING substantial has been done or proven by the Fraud Committee! It is purely an electoral smoke screen to give conservatives the illusion that the GOP is fighting back against fraud.

The only way to eliminate fraud is to drastically cut the size and scope of government and to banish the use of omnibus bills. Multi-subject bills that could be hundreds to thousands of pages long are never actually read by politicians and they blatantly violate Article 4, Section 17 of the MN Constitution. Omnibus budget bills also violate the MNGOP platform yet many GOP politicians continue voting for them.

Action 4 Liberty will continue to prioritize truth and liberty above all. Pretending that a RINO politician is conservative does nobody any good. The Democrats had willing partners in the mentioned RINOs on funding fraud. A4L is also unafraid to draw the obvious conclusion between mass Somali migration and mass fraud in our state. The correlation is beyond clear President Trump taking steps to deliver mass Somali deportations may provide a clear chance for conservatives to finally save Minnesota.