Minnesota fraud case: the perps are not diverse
The number of defendants charged in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud has now reached 73. Fifty have been convicted. Almost every defendant is a first- or second-generation Somali immigrant. In a case that has yet to be charged, Somalis figure prominently in a Minnesota Medicaid fraud that bears some of the hallmarks of the Feeding Our Future case, but nothing will ever top that one.
Somali Minnesotans are also featured in Minnesota’s apparent daycare fraud. In 2023 Deena Winter reported that about half of the defendants then charged in the Feeding Our Future case had been paid tens of millions more in state money for services such as providing child care and assisting seniors and people with disabilities.
I suppose some would consider it racist to point out this lack of diversity, even though Somalis are not a race. Somalia is a country. It also happens to be overwhelmingly Muslim, which is also not a race. But it’s a third-world country, a failed country, and one that even Somalis realize is the world’s most corrupt. The link goes to an article in The Somali Digest, which doesn’t pull its punches on the subject:
Somalia’s last-place ranking in the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index is a stark reminder of the challenges it faces in overcoming institutional corruption. This position, worse than that of Venezuela, Syria, and South Sudan, points to a deeply ingrained issue that transcends simple acts of bribery or fraud. Instead, it indicates a systemic rot that affects every layer of governance and public service.
The ranking is about corruption in “governance and public service.” In Minnesota, the Somali fraudsters were taking advantage of government programs to get money, so I’d say it comes under the heading of supposed “public service.”
I would bet that most Somalis who come here don’t participate in that sort of fraud, but there’s little question that many do and have brought their culture of corruption here.
“I would bet that most Somalis who come here don’t participate in that sort of fraud, but there’s little question that many do and have brought their culture of corruption here.”
I would bet if you gave 100% of them the opportunity to join in, they would.
And so, we weave them into our common ‘diverse’ culture. Great.
Greater Minneapolis put Tim Walz in the Governor’s chair.
It’s going to get worse when Omar Fateh is inevitably elected mayor of Minneapolis. All the bien pensants in Bryn Mawr and Kenwood will make themselves feel good by voting for him and then in two years’ time when several of his associates are found to have been plundering the city’s treasury, they will first not believe it and second label those who discover it racist. Fortunately, we have a tireless U.S. Attorney uncovering all the fraud and prosecuting it.
Someone has to; the governor has no interest in uncovering or prosecuting it.
Please note that the fraud was an extension of the government tossing cash around. Send checks to households who have passed eligibility tests and (on odd occasions) other governments. Take the philanthropic sector off the dole.
As a wise commenter said, “It’s not all of them, but it’s always them.” And add that to the crime statistics in every metropolitan area and you will come up with enough to convince even the most wellmeaning naif that there is a valid basis for stereotyping.
Some cultures have a consistent problem with tribalized corruption. We noticed, when we lived in India, that someone who got a good job or other source of income was expected to share the wealth with relatives, either with money or getting them a job also. One of my husband’s Indian colleagues in a large US company was fired for giving a close relative a job without disclosing the relationship. This problem is also frequently found in sub-Saharan African areas. Somalia is especially bad, but not alone.
Minnesota people seem very trustworthy. Ive been up there a lot. They dont like friction.
But they also think everyone is like them.
As that comedian says, “Please, Tread all over me. Tread over my face, my house. I cant get enough treading.”
I would say you are correct that it is not a majority but I would bet a pretty big majority won’t turn anyone in that they know is doing such things and most of them thing we deserve what we get.
Scott Johnson, at Power Line, says that his Somali community information sources insist on anonymity because they are afraid of the community enforcers. One of Ilhan Omar’s prime enforcers (reputedly) just pleaded guilty in the “Feeding Our Future” COVID fraud case.
“I would bet that most Somalis who come here don’t participate in that sort of fraud, but there’s little question that many do”
Somehow I’m reminded of the saying, “It’s the crooked lawyers who give the other 5% a bad name”.
— Kate
They don’t even consider it to be corruption. Cultures with that motivating baseline see it as moral duty to your family and your community. Failure to follow that practice, in that mindset, constitutes betrayal and corruption. From their POV, it’s a case of of course you do that. What kind of rat bastard would betray his family and his people to favor strangers?
You sometimes see a faint version of that in Western cultures, where sharing your wealth with family is seen as a way to deal with poverty, and getting more wealth means you have more to share. But it’s far, far stronger in places like India.
It gets even stronger when one state contains multiple tribal/ethnic/cultural identities are are exclusive. This has haunted sub-Saharan Africa for decades, ever since the Euroempires pulled out. Each tribe expects primary loyalty, and the state is an artificial construct, with borders drawn for convenience by the former rulers or more or less by chance.
Thus, if a member of Tribe A is in office, he is expected to favor Tribe A. Period. Either he does that or he’s betrayed his identity and his people. If it gets bad enough that he is ousted, either at the ballot box or the point of a gun, the new ruler is often from Tribe B or Tribe C and ‘it’s our turn to eat’.
That’s very slowly changing, but it’s deeply engrained.
I’m in awe of Scott Johnson’s persistence on the broad question of Somali immigration and the particular case of Ilan Omar. The majority of what he has written on the subject is original reporting unavailable anywhere else. (I live near the western edge of Ilan Omar’s district.)
Low trust cultures with minimal opportunities tend to have this sort of problem. No one believes they can make it on their own or that they can trust anyone outside their family/tribe. When they are transplanted to a place where there are opportunities, many don’t see the opportunities. They just follow the old ways.
Even many U.S. citizens don’t see the opportunities and believe the game is rigged against them. And that’s a shame.
Then there’s the issue of law and order. When crime pays with few penalties, too many take that path.
Blue run cities are examples. This one in Minneapolis being a very obvious one.
Private property must be zealously protected by the courts. When it’s not, thievery is invited. When private property rights are enforced, you create a high trust society. Trumps trying to create an example of this in D.C.
HC68, exactly. The problem is pervasive in Arabic Muslim societies as well.
The fraud case defense had a “cultural expert” testifying. Not sure what the point was except to say…they didn’t know any better so give them a break. Or something.
Recently, a Somali who raped a twelve-year old girl was defended by the community with a letter supporting him which mentioned how difficult it is to come here and make all the adjustments and move into a new culture. Such as being so stressed that raping a minor just happens. Or that raping minors is so common that he didn’t know any better so give him a break.
I have no idea what the point is but to haul in culture is either a desperate last attempt, or referring to culture as a mitigating factor. Or both, combined.
So what are we to make of this? They’re telling us this. We’re allowed to listen, right?
Bleeding hearts in Minneapolis, often Protestant ministers, sponsored the Somali immigration. The Somalis are Muslim, a wretched and disgusting cultcha. Does no one remember the Black Hawk Down event in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in 1993? I do.
Witness that the term “nepotism” comes to us from the medieval Church.
This is not because it was not practiced before them, or that they practiced it more than anyone else.
This is because it was the first time that it was regarded as a problem.
— Cicero
Too many Westerners, on some level, take it for granted that we’re all brothers, that everyone values the same things. This is especially common among the highly educated, because they are trained to think in an abstract, theoretical way. They just assume that the difference between Christian/secularist Westerner and foreign Muslim is no greater then between, say, a Baptist and a Methodist American.
Reality often comes as a shock. (For ex, the shock I’ve sen some Lefties express when they discover what Muslim immigrants usually think of Pride Month.)
American institutions are rotting. Importing the third world is accelerating that rot. And the leftists are cheering it on.
HC68.
In my experience, few are shocked because few accept the fact in question.
As the Pride issue, almost all know on one level. But it’s separated from the operating level.
If only the kocal Lutherans were vent on cobcerting this riff raff into honest Christians…er…Oh! Wait!
@Kate: Some cultures have a consistent problem with tribalized corruption.
Yes. This is a big stumbling block for Africa. As well as its tendency to elect Marxist governments.
Sarah Hoyt just put up a post on tribalism. She sees the West as providing a solution, which is now under attack:
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/08/12/tribalism/
Lutheran charities were / are?? making the most off “refugee resettlement” just like Catholic charities, NGO’s, etc.
It didn’t seem that being an example of fiscal responsibility with government payments was important, the last many years.
Open borders made such groups especially wealthy.
Kinda like the Cartels!
Which reminds me of the recent good news that Trump is going after them, as much as possible.
He even labeled them terrorists, didn’t he?
“Some cultures have a consistent problem with tribalized corruption”
Indeed. And how would one vet for that?
… IF we even vet immigrants anymore.
I truly despair thinking how much trouble the influx of those kind have changed many parts of America.
I’ve had some bad experiences lately* in certain franchise retail stores that made me more “culturist” than ever.
(Am referring to the employees & owners’ behavior.)
* During the last 3 years or so.
Somalia to Ukraine: “Hold my beer.”
Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago said “If a man can’t put his arms around his sons and help them, then what’s the world coming to?”
I think this was in response to accusations of nepotism.
Marlene wrote
If the question wasn’t rhetorical, the answer is to not allow immigration from countries whose cultures have a consistent problem with tribalized corruption.
Selfy —
“If the question wasn’t rhetorical, the answer is to not allow immigration from countries whose cultures have a consistent problem with tribalized corruption.”
I agree. Though of course that would be demonized as raaacist. And judgemental … lol. What a concept. We need more moral judgments made, overall.
American, not tribal.
I’d like much less chain migration, too.
The problem with taking in Africans and Muslims is that there is always a higher allegiance than the US. With Africans it’s the tribe, with Islam it’s their non existent god, and, murderous theology. For Minnesota DFL politicians, as with all progs, destroy the political structure and culture to ensure winning,
Lutherans (ELCA), Catholic Charities, and Episcopalians have all been heavily involved in supporting “migrants” with government money. To the great amusement of those who left the Episcopal Church, its charity recently closed up shop rather than assist white refugees from South Africa.
@huxley: An interesting essay about tribalism from Sarah Hoyt. In my case, instead of my merging into my husband’s tribe (Croatian immigrants), it’s been probably 75% his merging into mine (Anglo-American). His parents didn’t speak Croatian to the kids because they wanted them to be American. This was common among immigrants from the first half of the twentieth century. They kept the food but otherwise consciously tried to merge.
Leftist efforts to make Americans into several large mutually distrustful “tribes” is a recipe for disaster, as we are seeing.
The place is so crappy that England, France and Italy had to split it up when they couldn’t even con the Czar into taking it over.