Washington
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At a swiftly scheduled House Oversight Committee hearing in the US Capitol Wednesday, Republican Minnesota state lawmakers testified that tax dollars intended for child care aid in their state are being absconded by criminals to purchase luxury homes and cars, property in Turkey and apartment buildings in Kenya – and that local Democrats have known about it.
The Minnesota welfare fraud scandal has intensified into a national political flashpoint in recent weeks, seized upon by President Donald Trump and echoed in attacks traded across the aisle during the deepening federal probe. Tension crystallized within minutes of the gavel’s first strike, as questioning quickly veered from accounting details to partisan blame.
The hearing grew heated at moments, with lawmakers accusing one another of going “off the rails” and calling for decorum, as flaring tensions delivered more political sparring than clarity.
As the contentious hearing unfolded in Washington, an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman hundreds of miles away on the streets of Minneapolis. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the woman “attacked” the ICE officers, but Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the claim that the shooting was in self-defense is “bullsh*t.”
Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, mentioned the shooting during the hearing, describing it as a “horrific killing.”
“I encourage folks to watch those videos and see what’s happened for themselves. And I’m hopeful that this committee investigates this incident and that we have full accountability,” Garcia said.
At the end of the hearing, Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley introduced a motion to subpoena DHS for all documents and footage related to the shooting. The motion ultimately failed after the committee vote resulted in a tie.
Here’s what you need to know about Wednesday’s hearing:
Wednesday’s hearing featured ardent testimony from three Republican members of the Minnesota House of Representatives who, the chairman of the Oversight Committee says, “sounded the alarm” on the fraud years ago: Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick.
Hudson testified he had no doubt “whatsoever” that Democratic Gov. Tim Walz knew about the fraud as it occurred.
Robbins, who chairs her state’s fraud prevention committee, said credible reports of child care fraud started surfacing in 2011, and Walz knew about it “from the very beginning.”
“The Tim Walz administration has utterly failed to protect Minnesota taxpayers and vulnerable citizens, ignoring years of credible reports,” Robbins said in her opening statement. Walz was sworn in as governor in 2019.
Hudson said he believed Walz ignored concerns of fraud in part because Somali Americans were a significant piece of the Democratic voting base in Minnesota.
“A culture suppressing raising those concerns was fostered by the Walz administration,” he said.
Rarick said if Walz was serious about addressing fraud, he would have done so when he first took office.
Walz dropped his bid for a historic third term as governor on Monday as the scandal has steadily amplified.
Robbins said whistleblower allegations of millions of dollars in day care fraud go as far back as 15 years. Some include allegations of fraud in the Somali community focused on Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit prosecutors said falsely claimed to provide meals to needy children during the Covid-19 pandemic. Federal charges were brought against dozens of people — most of them Somali — beginning in 2022 under President Joe Biden.
Much of Wednesday’s discussion was framed around how the Feeding Our Future scandal informed the new fraud allegations. Some Republicans on the committee moved beyond claims that Walz’s administration overlooked the fraud, but that it actually had political incentive to perpetuate it after taking office in 2019.
Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas asked all three lawmakers on the panel: “Did the Walz administration and Democrats intentionally, in your opinion, overlook this fraud while it was happening for political gain?” Robbins, Hudson and Rarick all answered yes, citing whistleblower reports.
“Tim Walz and the Democrats have repeatedly protected their political base at the expense of all Minnesotans,” Robbins said.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, while questioning witness and former federal prosecutor Brendan Ballou, asked whether the Biden administration covered up the fraud in Minnesota for political reasons. Then-Vice President and Democratic nominee for president Kamala Harris tapped Walz as her running mate in August 2024.
“Uncovering fraud on this massive scale would have hurt the 2024 Democrat vice presidential candidate,” Boebert said.
Democrats raise concerns over racism toward Somalis and Muslims
Much of the contention during the hearing erupted from claims by witnesses and some Republican congressmembers that individuals have weaponized false accusations of racism to deter the investigation into alleged fraud.
In her opening statement, Robbins denied what she called “fake allegations of racism and Islamophobia” regarding investigations of fraud in Minnesota, where 85 of the 98 people federally indicted are of Somali descent, Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer said.
“Crime is crime no matter who is committing it,” said Robbins. “It is true that the majority of the fraud in Minnesota has taken place in the Somali community, and it is also true that some of our best whistleblowers are from the Somali community.”
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio called the racism allegations a “template.”
“You see this all the time,” the congressman said. “The left will tell the lie, the media will report the lie or not report when the truth comes out, and then when you tell the truth, they call you a racist.”
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, one of the first Muslim women to join the US Congress, asked the Minnesota lawmakers to keep investigating fraud, but to be cautious of their work being applied as a “racist trope.”
“Do your job, but don’t allow your job and what you’re doing to be utilized as a racist trope, that all Somali Americans are criminals, that Muslims are demons,” the congresswoman said. “It’s incredibly dangerous.”
Many Democratic members raised similar concerns of xenophobia and racism throughout the hearing, with one member calling the hearing itself, by its nature, racist.
“It’s hard for me not to look at this hearing and the context in which it’s taking place and not see this as a partisan and racist hearing,” said Democratic Rep. Dave Min of California. “We have not had other hearings when it comes to fraud that takes place in Republican-led states, or … that go after those who are not Somali American.”
Earlier in the hearing, Gill, the Texas Republican, repeatedly asked Hudson, “Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?” while citing statistics regarding the community’s use of government services.
Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland said that discussion of the Somali community went beyond the investigation of fraud, accusing members across the aisle of xenophobia.
“Asking their opinion, ‘What is your opinion of Somalians?’ We might as well say, ‘What is your opinion of Jews? What is your opinion of Black people? What is your opinion of Latinos?’” said Mfume.
Gill, the youngest Republican in the House, was seen stifling chuckles as Mfume made his comments.
Democratic Rep. Summer Lee and Comer also engaged in a heated spar after Lee accused Republicans of “cherry-picking” a Democratic-led state and making efforts to “demonize” the vulnerable Somali community over fraud that is also happening in other states.
“You all continue to fail, we’ve done nothing. … We barely do hearings on anything that actually effects change,” Lee shouted.
“You all have failed!” Comer hollered back. “You want to spend more money, more money, more money.”
Years-old fraud allegations and new viral video spurred hearing
The Trump administration is using allegations of fraud to justify increased federal law enforcement actions in Minnesota, the state with the country’s largest Somali population.
The latest surge in federal resources — from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security — followed the release of a widely circulated video in which 23-year-old YouTube content creator Nick Shirley alleges, with little evidence, to have uncovered widespread fraud at Somali-run child care centers.
The accusations are the most recent in a series of fraud scandals involving state social service programs that provided meals for needy children during the pandemic, Medicaid housing assistance and other safety nets which benefit needy families.
The alleged schemes prompted a fresh gush of fury and vitriol from the administration of Trump and state GOP leaders, who have demanded a crackdown on the waste of taxpayer dollars for social services they said were never provided.
