Not all Somalis are bad people. But neither is this a case of a ‘few bad apples.’
Massive fraud.
Fake (and enormously expensive) autism diagnoses, condemning children to a future they shouldn’t have.
$1 billion.
Scam companies.
60 defendants convicted — so far.
Child nutrition exploited.
Bogus rosters of kids.
People with disabilities exploited.
No meals served at many sites.
Minnesota’s public social services system transmogrified into a private-wealth scheme.
10 years cooling his heals in prison for defrauding the government out of . . . $900,000! (spent on a honeymoon in Maldives and a Dodge Ram pickup).
It was on Gov. Tim Walz’ watch.
And the convicted parties are almost all Somali immigrants. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean that all Somalis should be sent back to Somalia, as President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson advocate, a move that would affect hundreds of thousands of people. It does not mean that all Somalis are bad people.
But neither does it mean that there were just a “few bad apples here,” as apologists for Somalis say. Billions of dollars and 60 convictions are not a “few bad apples.” Even one Somali apologist concedes, “It is a civic betrayal, particularly for a state that has welcome the Somalis with enormous generosity” (Prof. Ahmed Samatar, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, also the source of much of the data cited here).
Another quote from the same newspaper, this time from Joseph Thompson, then acting US attorney for Minnesota:
“From Feeding out Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Each case we bring exposed another strand of this network.” Sixty are convicted, but the last person charged is the 78th person.
Oh, and this: The Treasury Dept. is investigating whether millions in fraudulently acquired funds have ended up in the hands of the Somali branch of al Qaida, al Shabab.
One cannot stack up Congress’ investigation of the massive fraud in Minnesota simply as politics as usual. It doesn’t seem that Gov. Walz or Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Elllison undertook any serious efforts to root out the corruption, or were even aware of its broad scope. Congress would be derelict in its duty if it didn’t step in.
© IJN 2025
