CHICAGO: Republican US Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas denounced the growing “Somali fraud scandal” in Minnesota as “morally repugnant” during a meeting of the Senate’s Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, which met on Feb. 9.

Allegations of fraud include claims that state and federal money have been used for personal reasons, such as the purchase of vehicles, vacations, clothes and personal expenses, rather than to provide childcare or food services for seniors.

There have also been accusations that some Somali-run childcare centers either had no children being served, or far fewer of them than what was claimed in government funding applications.

“There are few crimes more morally repugnant than stealing from vulnerable children,” Cruz said. “Every dollar stolen is a meal not eaten, a doctor’s visit missed and a future diminished. Child welfare fraud plunders our children’s potential and erodes our nation’s future.

“And disturbingly, at the start of this new year, America has learned that this kind of looting wasn’t occurring in some distant or lawless place, but in the heart of America’s Midwest.”

A 2025 report by the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General found that issues involved overpayments to recipients.

The inspector general, according to media reports, sampled 1,155 childcare centers and found that 11 percent of the payments made to those centers in 2023 had errors.

There are also accusations that COVID-19 relief funds awarded to Somali businesses allegedly harmed during the pandemic were misused or based on exaggerated data.

Cruz said the fraud was neither “accidental or unforeseeable,” although several daycare operators say the accusations are false and political.

He is among a growing number of officials nationwide who have cited Minnesota as an example of how Democrats have failed to protect taxpayers from such criminal acts.

US President Donald Trump has showcased the accusations repeatedly during the past year, and the fraud was used as the basis to direct the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter Minnesota and target “illegal aliens” — people who enter the country and establish their residencies illegally.

On Jan. 9, Secretary of the US Treasury Department Scott Bessent announced a special task force to investigate the fraud at Trump’s direction, accusing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other Democrats of failing to protect taxpayers.

Walz ran for vice president as the running mate of presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024.

Bessent said the allegations involve “complex and rampant fraud” in Minnesota led by several Somali businessmen that have “stolen billions of dollars” from state-funded programs intended to provide housing for disabled seniors and to feed and shelter children.

The task force includes Bessent’s agency, the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and the Justice Department.

“President Trump has instructed the administration to bring accountability for the hardworking people of Minnesota,” Bessent said in a statement on Jan. 9.

“Under Democratic Governor Tim Walz, welfare fraud has spiraled out of control. Billions of dollars intended for feeding hungry children, housing disabled seniors, and providing services for children in need were diverted to benefit Somali fraud rings.”

Bessent accused “complex fraud rings in Minnesota” led by Somali businessmen and women of stealing the money from state programs for their personal enrichment in the US and abroad.

“Perpetrators stole money to purchase residential and commercial real estate, luxury goods, vehicles, planes, international flights and other luxury expenses — all at the cost of the US taxpayer,” he said.

Minnesota is home to the largest concentration of Somali immigrants and their descendants in the US, with recent estimates suggesting a population of more than 100,000.

The population is the political base for Ilhan Omar, a Somali American first elected to the Minnesota State Legislature in 2017 and then elected to represent Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in 2019.

Trump said on Jan. 21 at the World Economic Forum: “The situation in Minnesota reminds us that the West cannot mass import foreign cultures, which have failed to ever build a successful society of their own.”

He added: “We’re taking people from Somalia, and Somalia is a failed — it's not a nation — got no government, got no police … got no nothing.”

Trump said up to 90 percent of the Minnesota fraud is caused by people who came to the US illegally from Somalia.

The accusations have resulted in an increased presence of ICE personnel in Minnesota focusing on the Somali population.

In response to the scandal, Walz announced that he would not seek reelection to a third term as Minnesota’s governor in the November general election.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has issued an alert urging financial institutions to identify and report fraud associated with federal child nutrition programs in Minnesota.

The federal investigation of the nonprofit “Feeding Our Future” program has resulted in the indictment of 98 defendants, with dozens convicted and sentenced. The investigation revealed that 85 of the 98 charged are of Somali descent.