Trump demands Somali scammers repay hundreds of millions stolen in brazen Minnesota benefits fraud plot

By CHARLIE SPIERING, US POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: | Updated:

President Donald Trump‘s administration is moving to claw back hundreds of millions of dollars stolen in a massive healthcare scam in Minnesota

Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill has fired off repayment demands to the sponsors of immigrants who became dependent of public benefits. 

Longstanding federal law requires the sponsors of immigrants to repay means tested public benefits, but the law is rarely enforced.

The letters, seen by the Daily Mail, warn that anyone who fails to pay up will face aggressive federal action ‘by all available means.’ 

The crackdown is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s response to mounting evidence of rampant fraud in Minnesota — much of it centered in parts of the state’s Somali community. 

‘Federal records indicate that as a sponsor for [redacted] immigration to the United States you agreed to provide financial support so that [redacted] would not be excludable as a public charge who is dependent on government benefits, read a letter from O’Neill to reported fraudsters obtained by the Daily Mail. 

The deputy secretary signed at least ten letters tied to sponsored individuals enrolled in Medicaid, according a source familiar with the department’s actions. 

Medicaid and Medicare are taxpayer funded programs for individuals in the United States who are in the most need.

President Donald Trump has condemned the Somali community in Minnesota for rampant fraud

A letter from Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill

‘Exploitation of these dollars put these programs at risk,’ a Trump administration official told the Daily Mail.

Federal prosecutors say the true scale of the alleged theft could reach ‘multiple billions’ of dollars. 

Investigators are already probing the notorious Feeding Our Future scandal, which involved $453 million in taxpayer funds, along with another $248 million paid out through Medicaid housing stabilization claims now suspected to be fraudulent. 

At least 78 people have been charged in connection with the federally funded nonprofit group Feeding Our Future. 

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had connections with at least some of the Somali refugees charged in the massive scheme.

Omar was pictured with Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, who was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody earlier in December. 

Officials also uncovered a scheme that involved providers allegedly recruiting Somali children and falsely diagnosing them with autism to get government funds, with the promise of paying parents financial kickbacks for participating.

Autism-related payouts alone have surged to $700 million in Minnesota, as federal agents zero in on a wave of newly formed clinics created to funnel public funds. 

Abdul Dahir Ibrahim has been linked to Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz and Rep. Ilhan Omar

Reports of widespread fraud have put Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the spotlight for ignoring systemic fraud from the Somali immigrant community, as his critics believe he avoided the growing problem for political reasons. 

 Federal prosecutors have already charged dozens of people in the state for bilking the state’s welfare system for hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

President Trump recently criticized Minnesota as a ‘hub of fraudulent money laundering activity’ and called for criminals in the Somali communities to be deported.

Last month he announced his intention to ‘immediately’ terminate Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants.

‘Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country,’ Trump said at the White House to reporters earlier this month, referring to Somalia. 

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