(MINNESOTA) — House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-WI) called for the denaturalization and deportation of Somali Americans tied to fraud schemes in Minnesota, saying he is willing to push to “change the law” to do it.
“I have three words regarding Somalis who have committed fraud against American taxpayers: Send them home. If they’re here illegally, deport them immediately; if they’re naturalized citizens, revoke their citizenship and deport them quickly thereafter,” Emmer wrote on X. “If we need to change the law to do that, I will.”
Emmer’s remarks came as federal and state scrutiny widens around fraud schemes in Minnesota, with prosecutors and investigators citing large dollar figures and dozens of defendants, including many identified as being of Somali descent.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that 98 individuals—85 of Somali descent—have been charged in connection with the schemes.
The best-known case is the Feeding Our Future investigation, in which more than 78 people have been charged with $250 million in fraud. The Biden Justice Department described it in September 2022 as “the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the United States.”
A separate set of allegations involves autism services billed through a publicly funded program, according to a December 18 Justice Department announcement.
One defendant, Asha Farhan Hassan, was charged with wire fraud for her role in a $14 million autism fraud scheme, and was also charged with participating in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, for which she received $465,000.
Another focus has been daycare fraud tied to Medicaid-funded programs, after a viral video by independent journalist Nick Shirley showed allegedly non-operational daycare centers collecting state dollars.
Following that video, the Department of Homeland Security sent investigators to Minnesota, and federal investigators are examining 14 Medicaid-funded programs with suspicious billing practices.
Prosecutors suspecting more than half of the $18 billion in taxpayer funding was stolen, according to the information provided.
Emmer has framed his calls as both an immigration and accountability issue, arguing that Minnesota leaders failed to stop fraud schemes in Minnesota as public money flowed through government programs.
“Tim Walz and our former colleague, who’s now Attorney General, Keith Ellison, have looked the other way for seven years and have allowed billions of dollars of Minnesota taxpayer money to be bilked out of Minnesota,” Emmer said, calling for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) to resign.
A gubernatorial spokesperson responded that Walz “has strengthened oversight, including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.”
The new push also coincides with action by the Small Business Administration tied to suspected pandemic-era lending fraud across the state.
Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler announced the SBA is pausing annual funding to Minnesota while investigating $430 million in suspected PPP fraud across the state.
Emmer’s statements went beyond fraud prosecutions to include assertions about national security, saying he wants citizenship stripped and deportations carried out for certain conduct by naturalized immigrants.
Emmer said that if any naturalized Somalis had “undisclosed ties to terrorist organizations like Al-Shabaab,” he wants “their citizenship revoked and their asses sent back immediately,” and he said the same for anyone found to have committed marriage fraud during immigration.
At the same time, allegations that members of the Somali community funneled welfare money to Al-Shabaab remain unfounded.
Emmer’s comments place Somali Americans at the center of a political debate over denaturalization and deportation, while court cases and investigations continue to focus on how public programs were billed and who benefited.
Bondi’s announcement that 98 individuals—85 of Somali descent—have been charged has been cited by Emmer in arguing that the scale and frequency of alleged wrongdoing warrants immigration consequences alongside criminal accountability.
The Feeding Our Future case remains the largest single example cited in the Minnesota fraud cases, with more than 78 people charged and $250 million in alleged fraud.
Federal prosecutors have also pointed to the autism services case, where the Justice Department’s December 18 announcement described charges connected to billing in a publicly funded program and highlighted Hassan’s alleged role.
The daycare-related scrutiny has taken on broader political attention after Shirley’s video, which his supporters have circulated as evidence that state dollars flowed to centers that were not operating as claimed.
DHS sending investigators to Minnesota, and the examination of 14 Medicaid-funded programs with suspicious billing practices, reflect what officials describe as a widening federal response to fraud schemes in Minnesota that go beyond one program or one set of defendants.
Emmer’s demand that Somali Americans he says committed fraud should be removed from the country has also raised the stakes by explicitly linking criminal allegations to immigration status, including the possibility of revoking citizenship for naturalized citizens.
In his X post, Emmer drew a sharp distinction between people he said were in the country illegally and those who are naturalized citizens, calling for immediate deportations in the first group and citizenship revocations followed by removals in the second.
His post also included a legislative warning, saying, “If we need to change the law to do that, I will,” a line that signals an effort to connect fraud prosecutions to changes in immigration enforcement tools.
The combination of overlapping cases has created a complex picture, with one person, Hassan, charged in both the autism services fraud allegations and the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, with prosecutors alleging she received $465,000 in the latter.
The public numbers have fueled a broader fight between Emmer and Minnesota’s Democratic leadership, with the Republican lawmaker arguing that oversight failures enabled the alleged fraud.
Walz’s office has pushed back, with a spokesperson saying the governor “has strengthened oversight, including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.”
Loeffler’s announcement that the SBA is pausing annual funding to Minnesota while investigating $430 million in suspected PPP fraud across the state adds another layer, tying the state’s fraud scrutiny to federal pandemic-era aid beyond the Feeding Our Future case.
Emmer has also used the allegations to argue for a broader crackdown on immigration fraud, saying citizenship should be revoked for anyone found to have committed marriage fraud during immigration.
His comments about “undisclosed ties to terrorist organizations like Al-Shabaab” introduced a separate claim, even as the information provided notes that allegations about welfare money being funneled to Al-Shabaab remain unfounded.
With multiple cases running at once and political pressure mounting, Emmer has kept his focus on the same prescription for Somali Americans he says are involved in wrongdoing, writing: “Send them home.”
Rep. Tom Emmer has sparked political debate by calling for the deportation and denaturalization of Somali Americans linked to massive fraud in Minnesota. The cases involve pandemic food programs, autism services, and daycare centers, with investigations totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. While Emmer blames state leadership for negligence, Governor Walz’s office maintains that oversight has been strengthened. Federal investigators continue to probe suspicious billing in Medicaid-funded programs.
