By Janice Hisle
Citing whistleblowers’ allegations that Minnesota officials covered up or ignored massive welfare fraud, a powerful congressional committee is investigating—and demanding responses from the state’s governor and attorney general.
The House Committee on Oversight announced Dec. 3 that it is probing reports of “widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs under Governor Tim Walz’s watch, the state’s efforts to cover it up, and retaliation against whistleblowers who sought to protect taxpayer dollars.”
That investigation is the latest development in emerging welfare-fraud scandals in the North Star State. Dozens of suspects—mostly Somalis—have been prosecuted in three major cases, with more charges expected. Federal prosecutors say networks of fraudsters made false claims that bilked potentially billions of taxpayer dollars from welfare programs in Minnesota. In response, President Donald Trump and his administration have taken various actions, including increased immigration enforcement.
The Republican-led oversight committee told Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison that they must provide certain records by Dec. 17. Failure to do so could result in subpoenas and other action. The committee has “broad authority to investigate ‘any matter’ at ‘any time,’” under the House of Representatives’ rules, wrote Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the committee, in a Dec. 3 letter to Walz.
Records sought include “all documents and communications” starting from January 2019 regarding various people, businesses, government programs, and nonprofit organizations.
Those include Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit at the core of a meals-for-needy-kids scam case in which 78 people have been charged in recent years; the state’s Housing Stability Services program intended to prevent homelessness; and a business called Smart Therapy that claimed to be providing care for autistic children.
Neither Walz nor Ellison responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment on Dec. 5. House Democrats have issued no statements about the Republicans’ investigation.
In addition, Comer’s committee wants Walz to provide all Minnesota Department of Commerce records, dating to January 2014, “related to any complaints and/or occurrences of remittance payments to Somalia sourced from fraudulent activity.”
Comer’s letter told Walz the committee wants to learn from the records “what your administration knew about this fraud and whether you took action to limit or halt the investigation into this widespread fraud.”
The committee seeks similar records from Ellison, along with an additional category of documents: Medicaid-fraud-control data submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services, including information on investigation outcomes and Medicaid expenditures.
Comer said concerns over officials’ responses to reports of fraud arise from insiders at the state welfare department as well as from official sources.
“Whistleblowers within the Minneapolis Department of Human Services have alleged the agency has deleted data and withheld records to cover up the fraud,” the oversight committee said in a news release.
In addition, a former Minnesota Attorney General’s Office fraud investigator “said that state regulators, especially those in the Democrat-led administration, were ‘reluctant’ to take action in response to allegations involving the Somali community,” Comer’s letter to Walz said.
Comer also cited a June 2024 Minnesota Department of Education report, which “found that a threat of litigation and negative press from providers engaged in these fraud schemes ‘affected how state officials used their regulatory power.’”
In his separate letter to Ellison, Comer wrote that the committee “is concerned that [the attorney general was] negligent in handling taxpayer dollars that were ultimately stolen and had systems in place that allowed the funds to be funneled to terrorist networks responsible for killing Americans.”
The Treasury Department began investigating whether portions of the welfare stolen funds ended up in hands of the Somali terror network al-Shabab, when Minnesota Somalis transferred money to relatives and friends in their native land.
That is what sources told City Journal—a publication of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research—in an article published in late November. That story prompted the Treasury probe and other actions, including Trump’s decision to remove a deportation shield from Somalis in Minnesota.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Dec. 4 that it had arrested at least five Somalis and around a half-dozen Hispanic criminal illegal immigrants in “Operation Metro Surge,” an enforcement effort that launched on Dec. 1.
Questions About Motives
Ellison, in a Dec. 4 interview with CNN, defended his handling of the fraud that has emerged in his state.
Minnesota’s Education Department turned down “questionable claims” in the meals program, but “a judge actually found the department in contempt for denying claims,” Ellison said.
State officials fully cooperated with the FBI in the fraudulent-meals investigation, he said, adding that his office “convicted over 300 people in the last few years for Medicaid fraud.”
Ellison called upon other leaders to cooperate in such efforts instead of “using this tragic situation as a political weapon to gain advantage.”
“I am telling you, as an attorney general: Yeah, fraud happens,” Ellison said. “We should prosecute it. Hold people accountable for their individual conduct, not for their ethnicity. … And we’re doing that. We’ll do more.”
On Dec. 2, Walz told local news reporters: “My message is simple on this: You commit fraud in Minnesota, you’re going to prison. I don’t care what color you are, what religion you are. Anybody who wants to help us in that, we welcome that.”
The governor also expressed skepticism about the “timing” and motives of state and federal politicians who are raising alarms over the fraud cases.
