Posted originally on Dec 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong |  

Minnesota created its own mega welfare system during the pandemic, kept expanding at the state level, it grew from $15 billion in 2022-23 to $21 billion in 2024-25, and is expected to reach $23 billion next fiscal year. $42 of every $100 new spending goes to the state welfare system. The majority goes to HHS.

I discussed the prevalent fraud within the Somalian-run Feeding Our Future program, where over $300 million intended to feed needy children wound up in the hands of criminals. Former Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said the investigation unveiled “schemed stacked upon schemes” that stole tens of millions from Medicaid. “It feels never-ending,” Thompson said in September, when announcing that eight people had been charged with defrauding the housing stabilization services program of around $8.4 million in total. “I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away. The fraud must be stopped.”

The story worsens at every turn. The FBI first reported that Somalia was recruiting men from Minnesota to participate in terrorist training camps. “We really got a wake-up call in 2010-11,” Former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said. “Young people were going back to Somalia to participate in terrorist training camps and terrorist actions when they had no clear ties back to their culture. They were born here in the U.S. but felt a need or were radicalized to go back.” The crime has been overlooked by state lawmakers, leading to a widening network.

Somalians involved in these social program scams have sent a bulk of the money back to Somalia through Hawala. Hawala is an informal, trust-based system for transferring value that operates outside formal banks. It is prime grounds for sanction evasion and money laundering. The program is prominently used within the African community, who can send funds to a local hawaladar, along with a commission, who then sends the transaction details and code to another recipient. The recipient then provides the code to a counterpart broker and receives the funds in their local currency.  There is no customer identification, records, or licensing, and it’s a surprise that the government has permitted such a program to operate.

An unknown sum stolen from the state was sent directly to Al-Shabaab, a Somali-based terrorist organization. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is investigating the ties, as it is believed $1 billion from Minnesota was sent overseas.

Again, the case continues to worsen as the investigations continue. Minnesota reported a massive rise in autism cases at the same time that new autism centers began emerging. In fact, the reporting rate grew so significantly that it caused the nationwide rate of autism to increase.

Costs for autism centers and service providers increased 700% in the past five years. The state had around 41 providers in 2018, but that figure has multiplied to 328. The amount these providers received also multiplied over the same five-year span by 3,000% from $6 million to $192 million.

Asha Farhan Hassan, a 28-year-old Minneapolis woman, pocketed nearly half a million dollars from the scheme and worked with other members of her community to defraud the state $14 million under the premise of treating children with autism. She was charged wire fraud for sending hundreds of millions to Africa. She also purchased real estate in Kenya with taxpayer funds. Hasaan billed Medicaid for fake therapy session, using untrained staff with no medical backing. She paid off parents between $300 and $1,500 per month to keep their kids enrolled in the fake program.

State politicians profited from the fraud as well. A former Minneapolis mayoral aide, Abdi Nur Salah, pleaded guilty to stealing taxpayer funds. Democratic lawmakers received over $50,000 from criminals involved in the Feeding Our Future scam. AG Keith Ellison, his councilman son, mayor Jacob Frey, and Representative Ilhan Omar all received donations from the fraudsters. Ellison has received tens of thousands in donations from fraudsters for his re-election campaign, and naturally, has not investigated the fraud. Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh received $11,000 in donations from defendants. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey received political donations from 9 defendants in the case as well.

People with deep pockets have protected these criminals from prosecution. During one trial investigating $41 million in missing funds, a stranger delivered a bag to a juror containing $120,000 in cash. The anonymous woman who dropped off the bag warned that more money would be available if the juror voted to acquit the defendants. The juror reported the incident to the authorities, leading the judge to order all jurors to turn their phones over to the FBI to determine who had been paid off, but “Juror 52,” the only person of color on the jury, was the only one targeted. The FBI later charged three defendants on the case of gathering $200,000 in funds to blackmail people connected to the case.

The criminals had hoped the juror would buy into identity politics. Rep. Ilhan Omar believes she is above the law and insists any investigation into Somali-led crime is racist. “My answer was the US government will do what we tell the US government to do. We, as Somalis, should have that confidence in ourselves. We live in this country. We pay taxes in this country. It’s a country where one of your own sits in Congress … The woman you sent to Congress is aware of you and has the same interest as you,” she said during a 2024 interview.

The Minnesota City Council also deemed investigations “racist.” These politicians are using identity politics to gas light the public and protect criminals who are stealing from all Americans. Trump revoked Temporary Protective Status from Somalians for a reason. People from tribal communities are not able to easily assimilate into American culture. These fraud schemes have taken funds away from US taxpayers and sent them overseas to support terrorism. Then we have US representatives like Omar who do not represent US interests. All of this occurred under Tim Walz who has built his entire political career on identity politics.