On Saturday, US President Donald Trump alleged that theft and fraud in Minnesota exceeded the initially estimated $19 billion, accusing the prior Biden administration of being aware of the problem but not addressing it.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump targeted Ilhan Omar, referring to her as a “scammer” and saying she and others should be jailed or “sent back to Somalia”. He also criticised Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, calling him “corrupt” or “incompetent” over the alleged fraud, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
In recent weeks the US President has lashed out at Somali immigrants, alleging large-scale public benefit fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the country with around 80,000 members.
Omar is a constant target of Donald Trump’s attacks, had just called for the US President’s homeland security chief Kristi Noem to resign in the wake of immigration agents killing two US citizens in a matter of weeks.
She was targeted during a speech last week by Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, who sprayed an unidentified liquid at her from a syringe before being tackled by security guards.
A report by AFP from December says that federal charges have been filed against 98 people accused of embezzlement of public funds. Attorney General Pam Bondi last month pointed out that out of 98 at least 85 of the defendants are “of Somali descent.”
The report said that 57 have already been convicted in the scheme to divert $300 million in public grants intended to distribute free meals to children. Prosecutors said that the meals never existed.
Republican elected officials and federal prosecutors accuse local Democratic authorities of turning a blind eye to numerous warnings because the fraud involved Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the country with around 80,000 members.
“When whistleblowers raised concerns, they were told that they shouldn’t say anything out of fear of being called racist or Islamophobic, or because it was going to hurt political constituency of the governor and the ruling party, the Democrats here,” state representative Kristin Robbins, a Republican who is running for governor, told AFP.
