It’s Past Time To End Temporary Protected Status For Somalis
The article discusses allegations of extensive welfare and Medicaid fraud in Minnesota, largely involving members of the Somali community who have settled there under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.It claims that meaningful sums of money from Minnesota’s government programs, such as the Medicaid-funded housing stabilization program and autism-related Medicaid claims, have been fraudulently obtained by Somali individuals and funneled to support the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda. Over 70 people connected to a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future have been charged in connection with fraud schemes. Former acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson estimates that fraud in Minnesota exceeds $1 billion. The article highlights criticism of the long-standing TPS designation for Somalis, the lack of assimilation, and the political influence of the Somali community in minnesota. Political figures like former President Trump and Congressman Tom Emmer have called for ending TPS protections for Somalis and investigating the fraud, citing national security concerns and the misuse of taxpayer money.
President Trump is ending the gravy train of fraud in Minnesota, much of it perpetrated by Somalis who have been relocated here and who have allegedly used some of the money to fund terrorism back in Africa. Trump vows to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis, which has lasted many years longer than it should have.
Joseph H. Thompson, who served as Trump’s acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota until October, recently indicted six individuals from Somalia and two others for wire fraud. They allegedly defrauded Minnesota’s Medicaid-funded housing stabilization program.
This comes as 56 people, mostly from Somalia, have pled guilty in connection with a federal investigation into a Minnesota nonprofit organization called Feeding Our Future. Even The Washington Post editorial board expressed its outrage at the vast extent of fraud in this state run by Gov. Tim Walz, who was the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee last November.
Trump observed that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of dollars are missing. Send them back where they came from.”
A total of 78 defendants associated with Feeding Our Future have been charged with crimes. In just two years, the organization increased its take of government funding from $3 million in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021, as Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo reported for City Journal. Meanwhile, Medicaid payments on autism claims increased by nearly $400 million in Minnesota between 2018 and 2024, and federal charges have been filed based on alleged kickbacks to the Somali community.
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S., many of whom were settled there under the Temporary Protected Status program and have become American citizens. Earlier this year Trump terminated the TPS program for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians.
It was more than 30 years ago that President George H.W. Bush ill-advisedly brought Somalis into the United States under this temporary program. No “temporary” program should last more than three decades, as this one has.
Thompson, an experienced career prosecutor, estimated that the defrauding of government programs in Minnesota exceeds $1 billion. “It’s an extraordinary problem, the fraud that’s pervasive in this state,” Thompson told a news station in an interview in July. A former investigator who is Somali American confirmed this problem in an article published in the Minnesota Reformer.
“Minnesota’s public programs don’t adequately guard against organized fraud,” the Somali American said. He added that many Somalis are “skilled professionals whose experience and education credentials are not recognized in the U.S.”
“Somalis inherently trust one another. This creates a vast opening for fraudsters,” he continued.
Decades ago Phyllis Schlafly criticized the lack of assimilation by refugees and other immigrants in our country. The fraudulent conduct only gets worse because tribal behavior dominates in these non-assimilated immigrant groups — rather than a competitive market that helps keep participants honest.
As Thorpe and Rufo reported, many millions of these dollars stolen from the government in Minnesota are funneled to Al-Shabaab back in Somalia. Al-Shabaab seeks to impose strict Sharia Law in Somalia and is affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda.
According to Thorpe and Rufo, a former official who worked on the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force said, “Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities [Minneapolis-St. Paul], in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way.”
“The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” observed another expert on terrorism quoted by Thorpe and Rufo.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who is a Republican congressman from Minnesota, demanded on Nov. 24 that there be an investigation into the fraud. “Minnesota has become the land of 10,000 frauds under Tim Walz,” declared Emmer in a play on the state’s “10,000 Lakes” nickname.
News that stolen taxpayer dollars are funding Al-Shabaab terrorists “is not only a grave national security concern, it’s a slap in the face to the hardworking, law-abiding people of Minnesota,” Emmer said.
But so many Somalis have resettled now in Minnesota that they have oversized political clout in elections there. “If you don’t win the Somali community, you can’t win Minneapolis,” observed former Minnesota state senator David Gaither. “And if you don’t win Minneapolis, you can’t win the state.”
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.
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