USDA Pulls All Federal Funding From Minnesota Amid Massive Fraud Scandals
The Trump administration has suspended all federal funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis, citing billions in uncovered fraud and a complete lack of corrective action from state leaders.
In a scathing letter sent Friday to Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins laid blame squarely on the now-infamous $250 million Feeding Our Future scandal, which saw 78 people charged in a fake COVID-era children’s meal program. The letter specifically named abuses of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program.
“Enough is enough! The Trump administration has uncovered MASSIVE fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis—billions siphoned off by fraudsters. And those in charge have ZERO plan to fix it,” Rollins wrote. “Today, [USDA] is SUSPENDING FEDERAL FINANCIAL AWARDS to Minnesota and Minneapolis, effective immediately, until sufficient proof has been provided that the fraud has stopped.”
“No more handouts to thieves! Time to drain the Minnesota swamp and put American taxpayers first,” she added.
The move escalates a broader crackdown by the Trump administration on what it calls a “culture of corruption” within Minnesota’s welfare and healthcare programs. Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said this week that his agency will begin auditing Medicaid receipts and halting payments on claims tainted by fraud, waste, and abuse.
“The more we uncover, the more it becomes clear: it’s much worse than we were led to believe by state government officials,” Dr. Oz warned.
To date, 95 individuals have been charged across several major fraud cases, including the Feeding Our Future scandal and a multi-million-dollar autism treatment scam. The fallout has been so severe that Gov. Tim Walz recently announced he would not seek a third term.
“I won’t mince words here. Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place,” Walz said in his statement. “They’ve already begun by taking our tax dollars that were meant to help families afford child care. And they have no intention of stopping there.”
The USDA cut comes amid growing unrest in Minnesota following the ICE-involved fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. That incident has sparked days of anti-ICE demonstrations and growing federal presence in the region. According to Fox News, an additional 1,000 Border Patrol agents will be deployed to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area to support ongoing Homeland Security fraud investigations, bringing the total number of federal officers in the region to roughly 3,000.
Minneapolis city officials responded to the USDA’s announcement by accusing the Trump administration of playing politics with poor families’ livelihoods.
“The city is communicating with State partners to understand the impacts of such a blanket cut to funding meant for residents most in need,” a statement read. “What’s abundantly clear is that Minneapolis is the latest target of the Trump administration — willing to harm Americans in service to its perceived political gain.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison vowed legal retaliation, posting to X, “I will not allow you to take from Minnesotans in need. I’ll see you in court, [Secretary Rollins].”
Despite the pushback, federal officials say more cuts are coming if states fail to address what the administration calls “an epidemic of entitlement fraud.”