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A startling new investigation from the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal alleges that Minnesota taxpayer dollars stolen through sprawling welfare fraud schemes have been funneled, via informal remittance networks, into the coffers of the Somali terror group al-Shabaab — a charge that should terrify every patriot. Fox News correspondent Jeff Paul has been detailing the report and the outrage it has sparked among Republican lawmakers who demand answers.
The schemes named in the reporting stretch across multiple programs — from Medicaid’s Housing Stabilization Services to the Feeding Our Future child nutrition scandal and fraudulent autism-related claims — demonstrating systemic breakdowns in oversight. Federal prosecutors have already taken down dozens in the Feeding Our Future case and continue to pursue large fraud rings that stole hundreds of millions of dollars intended for needy children. These prosecutions show the scale of what happened and why taxpayers are right to demand accountability.
How did stolen benefits allegedly reach jihadists thousands of miles away? The City Journal piece lays out how cash and electronic transfers were routed through hawala-style money traders and clan networks in Somalia, and retired counterterrorism investigators say al-Shabaab often takes a cut of whatever passes through those channels. Local reporting and former investigators warn that once funds leave the U.S. through opaque remittance systems, tracing them becomes immensely difficult — which makes the allegations all the more urgent.
Minnesota Republicans and federal GOP leaders have not been idle: lawmakers from the state have formally demanded federal investigations and asked the new U.S. Attorney to get to the bottom of whether stolen public funds wound up subsidizing terror. This is not theater; it’s common-sense oversight. If law enforcement confirms even a fraction of these transfers reached al-Shabaab, national security and criminal statutes will demand swift action.
Predictably, some state officials and community leaders have pushed back, calling the reporting alarmist or politically motivated and warning against stereotyping a law-abiding immigrant community. Conservatives should be crystal clear here: we do not condemn whole communities for the crimes of individuals, but neither should we let political correctness blind us to hard evidence of fraud and its possible consequences. Responsible governance requires both compassion for the innocent and zero tolerance for criminality that drains taxpayers and risks American lives.
This scandal spotlights a failure of Democratic leadership in Minnesota to secure the public purse and protect citizens. Lawmakers in both parties must support permanent fixes: aggressive audits, stronger fraud-detection systems, tighter oversight of high-risk programs, and enforcement targeting money-transfer networks that can feed terrorism. The status quo — generous programs without accountability — invites abuse and puts ordinary Minnesotans on the hook for national-security consequences.
Hardworking Americans deserve the truth and swift justice. If taxpayer dollars were funneled, even indirectly, to a known al-Qaida affiliate, that is a betrayal of every family paying state and federal taxes to fund basic services. The GOP’s demand for a full federal probe is not partisan grandstanding; it’s a patriotic insistence that government protect its citizens, enforce the law, and secure our nation against threats that exploit our generosity.
