Trump’s ICE Director Blames Sanctuary Laws For Minnesota Fraud
President Donald Trump’s top immigration official is pointing to sanctuary city laws as a major contributor to Minnesota’s growing fraud scandal, which has already resulted in dozens of charges and billions in suspected taxpayer theft.
Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said Tuesday that sanctuary policies in cities like Minneapolis have created a legal shield for criminals and fraudsters, many of whom are now being tied to a massive corruption scheme.
“There’s always a tie when it comes to sanctuary jurisdictions, where you can hide in plain sight,” Lyons said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. “You see a lot of these fraudsters use a lot of sanctuary rules and sanctuary protections to enact in criminal fraud just like this.”
Earlier this month, federal officials revealed that as much as $9 billion may have been stolen from social service programs across Minnesota, primarily through fake nonprofits and shell companies. Much of the fraud has been tied to the state’s Somali immigrant community, and a portion of the funds are believed to have been funneled back to Somalia — and even terrorist group Al-Shabaab, according to a City Journal investigation.
On Monday, Homeland Security Investigations agents were deployed to Minneapolis to conduct door-to-door inspections at suspected fraud locations. The operation came on the heels of a viral exposé from independent journalist Nick Shirley, who posted a 42-minute video documenting shuttered daycare and learning centers that had received millions in public funding but showed no signs of any children.
Lyons said his department has been closely monitoring the situation and noted that the same sanctuary protections that shield illegal immigrants from deportation are being used to facilitate other crimes.
“When Homeland Security Investigations goes into these businesses, there is criminal activity when it comes to labor trafficking, child trafficking, human exploitation,” he said. “And that’s what we’re looking at up there in Minnesota. You’ll always come back to these sanctuary jurisdictions where you’ll find them hiding in plain sight and using those sanctuary protections to employ not only illegal aliens, but to conduct criminal fraud.”
The Trump administration sued Minnesota in September over its sanctuary policies. At the time, Attorney General Pam Bondi accused the state of enabling illegal immigrants to “circumvent the legal process.”
Bondi is also spearheading federal efforts to prosecute those involved in the Minnesota fraud scandal. On Monday, she announced that 98 individuals had been charged so far, with 85 of them being of Somali descent. She added that additional prosecutions are on the way.
“We have more prosecutions coming … BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!” Bondi said in a post on X.