EXCLUSIVE — The Department of Housing and Urban Development has sent federal employees into Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, to investigate federally administered aid programs following the discovery of a massive welfare fraud scheme believed to have been carried out by Somali immigrants.
A HUD spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the department is the latest federal entity, following U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to send in its own staff to ensure HUD-funded programs are being carried out appropriately.
The HUD official said the department is putting the region “on notice, that we are taking enforcement and fiscal oversight seriously given the rampant fraud.”
HUD’s Washington headquarters will also be reviewing data from Minnesota’s public housing authorities to ensure all federal housing programs are not being defrauded.
The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority spends $108 million annually on housing choice vouchers and public housing, while St. Paul spends $46 million.
The arrival of HUD personnel comes after $1 billion in taxpayer dollars was siphoned from the state’s social services programs to line the pockets of primarily Somali descendants in the region. The Treasury Department said it is looking into whether the money also went to a terrorist group, al Shabaab.
The primary scandal involved Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit organization that claimed to have provided millions of meals to children during the pandemic and received $300 million in reimbursement.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner said on Saturday evening that the department has cut funding for Somalis who have Temporary Protected Status.
WALZ SAYS HE WOULD ‘WELCOME MORE’ SOMALIS AS FRAUD INVESTIGATION INTENSIFIES
TPS is a legal status that illegal immigrants from certain countries may apply for and if granted, they will be protected from deportation for two years on the basis that the country of origin is not stable enough to repatriate them.
“Illegal immigration and the housing affordability crisis are directly correlated. Fix one, you fix the other,” Turner posted on X Sunday. “That’s exactly what we are doing under the leadership of @POTUS.”