Stephen Miller Calls Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Somali Welfare Scam ‘Greatest Theft of Taxpayer Dollars’ In U.S. History
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller is sounding the alarm over what he calls the most brazen welfare fraud operation the United States has ever seen, following a wave of convictions tied to Minnesota’s Somali migrant community.
Miller, who also serves as President Trump’s senior homeland security adviser, said on Fox News that the scope of the scheme is far larger than initially understood.
“This is the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars through welfare fraud in American history,” Miller told Sean Hannity. “We believe that we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes. This will rock the core of Minnesota politics and American politics.”
Federal prosecutors have already convicted 59 individuals in what began as a probe into pandemic-era meal programs intended to feed low-income children. In total, nearly 80 people have been charged, with fraud estimates topping $1 billion.
Authorities say the nonprofit Feeding Our Future helped orchestrate the scheme by submitting fake meal counts, bogus invoices, and forged documents to make it appear children were being fed during COVID lockdowns, when in fact the money was being pocketed by participants.
“Their goal was to make as much money for themselves as they could while falsely claiming to feed children during the pandemic,” former U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said when the scandal first broke.
Minnesota is home to roughly 80,000 Somali migrants, one of the largest Somali communities in the country. The scam has already exposed several individuals with criminal histories, including Abul Dahir Ibrahim — photographed with Rep. Ilhan Omar — who has been under a removal order since 2004.
President Trump responded forcefully this week, saying during a cabinet meeting: “They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.” He also vowed online to send Somalis “back to where they came from.”
The developing scandal has triggered additional inquiries across the administration. Small Business Secretary Kelly Loeffler has ordered a full review of pandemic?era Paycheck Protection Program loans in Minnesota, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has launched a separate probe into whether any taxpayer-funded fraud proceeds were funneled to al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based terrorist organization.
As prosecutors pursue more cases and investigators widen their sweep, federal officials say this may only be the beginning of what could become one of the largest welfare corruption scandals ever uncovered in the United States.