(MINNESOTA) U.S. immigration officers have arrested Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, a Somali national with a long record of fraud and prior deportations, after he allegedly spent years living in Minnesota despite a formal removal order dating back to 2004. His case has now become entangled in a wider political fight in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, where a new federal enforcement push is colliding with fears in the state’s large Somali community.
According to a segment by WCHS Eyewitness News / The National Desk, Ibrahim first entered the United States in 1995 after being deported from Canada, where he had been charged with welfare and asylum fraud. The report says an immigration judge in the United States ordered him removed in 2004
“because of his extensive history of fraud charges.”
Despite that order, the same report states that he had been living in Minnesota for years, until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “finally arrested” him “last week” in an operation targeting Somali nationals in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region.
The WCHS/The National Desk segment describes Ibrahim as having a fraud conviction and a long immigration‑fraud history, and says he had previously been deported from Canada before making his way to the United States. ICE has not publicly released detailed charging documents in the material reviewed, but the case, as presented by the outlet, shows how someone ordered removed more than two decades ago was still in Minnesota when ICE officers took him into custody as part of a broader enforcement sweep.
The same television segment says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted photos online showing Ibrahim alongside several Minnesota Democratic politicians. The images reportedly include pictures of him with Governor Tim Walz, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and former Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh. The broadcast notes that some of these names were mispronounced or slightly altered in the clip, but identifies the officials as prominent Democratic figures in the state.
Commentators in that WCHS/The National Desk piece frame the photos as evidence that “Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota” had “allowed him to keep living in the U.S. under sanctuary policies,” linking his presence in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area to local political choices. However, beyond the DHS‑posted photographs mentioned in that coverage, there is no independently corroborated evidence in the reviewed material that Minnesota Democratic officials knowingly assisted Ibrahim with his immigration matters or fraud, or that they played any direct role in shielding him from enforcement.
The segments examined do not cite any formal DHS, ICE, or court documents directly tying Minnesota Democrats to specific acts on Ibrahim’s behalf. They also do not provide case numbers or U.S. charging documents for his alleged fraud convictions in the United States, leaving key legal details outside the public record covered so far. ICE and DHS have detailed general enforcement actions on their official channels, but the specific documents on Ibrahim’s case and any political references are not included in the material reviewed. The agency’s broader mission and enforcement activities are outlined on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.
What is clear is that Ibrahim’s arrest took place amid a new ICE and DHS operation focusing on Somali nationals in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area. Separate national reports describe that push as part of a sharpened federal focus on both immigration enforcement and fraud in Minnesota, coming after President Trump’s public attacks on the Somali community and a more than $1 billion pandemic‑era fraud scandal tied to federal programs in the state.
CBS News has reported that about $1 billion was siphoned from programs such as meal programs, housing assistance, and behavioral health services over several years. According to that reporting, federal prosecutors have charged 87 people and secured 61 convictions over three years, most of them of Somali descent. Investigators told CBS that, despite speculation about money being funneled abroad, they have “found no evidence” that proceeds from the fraud schemes were sent to terrorists overseas. Instead, they said the perpetrators “pocketed the money for their own use, bought cars, trips, diamonds, and so much more.”
The scale of those cases has intensified national scrutiny of Minnesota’s Somali community, one of the largest Somali diaspora populations in the United States, and has fueled political arguments about security, fraud, and immigration in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region. For many Somali Americans in Minnesota, the combined impact of the fraud prosecutions and the stepped‑up ICE operation has created an atmosphere of anxiety.
Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Somalia, described that mood bluntly in comments to CBS News.
“Anyone who looks like me are scared right now.”
While acknowledging that individuals in the community have committed crimes, Osman rejected efforts to cast suspicion on Somali Americans as a whole.
“Yes, people commit crimes, but the entire community should not be blamed based on what some individuals did.”
His words reflect a tension at the heart of the debate playing out in Minnesota: federal officials insist they are targeting specific individuals with criminal or immigration violations, while community leaders warn that visible arrests of Somali nationals, like the detention of Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, risk deepening fear and stigma far beyond those under investigation. In neighborhoods across Minneapolis–St. Paul, families of Somali descent now see both pandemic‑era fraud prosecutions and renewed immigration sweeps as part of the same wave of pressure.
For immigration hardliners, the Ibrahim case, as described in the WCHS/The National Desk segment, has become a symbol of what they argue are gaps in the system. They point to a man who, according to that report, was deported from Canada after welfare and asylum fraud charges, entered the U.S. in 1995, was ordered removed in 2004 “because of his extensive history of fraud charges,” and nevertheless managed to live in Minnesota for years before ICE “finally arrested” him “last week.” To them, the DHS photos with Governor Walz, Rep. Omar, and Omar Fateh and the commentary about “Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota” having “allowed him to keep living in the U.S. under sanctuary policies” fit a broader narrative of lax enforcement and political tolerance.
Yet the absence of concrete evidence tying those officials to any actions on Ibrahim’s behalf also shows the limits of the claims circulating in some media segments. The material reviewed provides no direct link between Minnesota Democrats and specific immigration or fraud decisions in Ibrahim’s case: no orders, no memos, no signed letters, and no case files that show interference or special treatment. Without such documentation, the photos alone demonstrate that he appeared at political or community events, not that elected leaders influenced his immigration status.
For Somali Minnesotans already feeling exposed by the fraud prosecutions and high‑profile political rhetoric, the way Ibrahim’s story is being told adds to a sense that their entire community is on trial. Jamal Osman’s warning that “the entire community should not be blamed based on what some individuals did” captures this fear. Community advocates say that while they support the prosecution of fraud and other crimes, they worry that linking those cases to broader immigration raids in Minneapolis–St. Paul will leave law‑abiding families looking over their shoulders.
Federal authorities, for their part, have signaled through their actions that they intend to keep pressing both fronts: continued investigation of pandemic‑era fraud in Minnesota involving federal programs, and targeted immigration enforcement against Somali nationals with criminal histories or outstanding removal orders. Ibrahim’s arrest, as described by WCHS/The National Desk, fits squarely into the latter category, involving a man whose immigration record stretches back to his 1995 entry into the United States and his earlier deportation from Canada.
The next steps in Ibrahim’s case are not spelled out in the material reviewed, and no formal charging documents have been made public in that coverage. Typically, an individual with an old removal order who is taken into ICE custody can face rapid deportation if that order is still valid and there are no new legal barriers. But any appeals, claims of fear of return, or other legal filings could affect how quickly the case moves.
In Minnesota, where immigration, fraud, and national politics now intersect in a particularly raw way, the outcome may matter less to public debate than the story already being told about Abdul Dahir Ibrahim. For critics of the state’s Democratic leadership, the DHS photos and his long presence in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area are evidence of failed policies. For Somali residents and their elected representatives, he is one man whose record should not be used to “blame” an entire community.
What is firmly established from the available reporting is narrow but stark: a Somali national with a history of fraud allegations, deported once from Canada and ordered removed from the United States in 2004, was living in Minnesota when ICE “finally arrested” him “last week” amid a wider enforcement push. Around that core, in the charged politics of Minneapolis–St. Paul, a much larger argument about law, belonging, and blame is now raging.
Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, a Somali national with alleged fraud convictions and a 2004 removal order, was arrested in Minnesota during an ICE operation targeting Somali nationals. Reports indicate he entered the U.S. in 1995 after deportation from Canada. DHS released photos showing him with Minnesota politicians, but reviewed coverage includes no documents proving officials aided him. The arrest comes amid scrutiny of a roughly $1 billion pandemic-era fraud scandal that has heightened tensions in the Somali community.
