A new investigation by Christopher Rufo and Ryan Thorpe exposes what should be a national scandal: Minnesota taxpayer dollars allegedly ripped off through massive welfare fraud are being sent, via informal remittance networks, into the hands of al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda‑linked terror group operating in Somalia. The reporting pieces together Feeding Our Future, Medicaid scams, and other frauds into a pattern that smells of organized criminal enterprise, and it demands immediate federal attention.
The mechanics of the theft are brazen and bureaucratically enabled: programs created to help the elderly, the disabled, and families have allegedly been hollowed out and exploited, with Feeding Our Future alone estimated at hundreds of millions stolen and Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program ballooning from a few million dollars to well over a hundred million. Prosecutors have already filed indictments tied to these schemes, and separate allegations involving autism services and fake diagnoses show the depth of the corruption.
Even more chilling is where the money ends up. Thorpe and Rufo found that remittances from the Somali diaspora — roughly $1.7 billion in 2023 alone — flow through hawala networks and clan‑based money traders, and multiple law‑enforcement sources told the reporters that untold millions of dollars from Minnesota have funneled into al-Shabaab’s coffers. One confidential source bluntly described the situation as “the largest funder of al‑Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” a line that should make every elected official squirm.
Veteran investigators quoted in the reporting paint a picture of sophisticated networks moving cash on commercial flights and exploiting legal loopholes while hiding behind multicultural sensitivities and media silence. Retired JTTF detective Glenn Kerns and other officials say they saw Somalis on federal benefits routing cash through hawalas that ultimately benefited extremist elements in Somalia. If even a fraction of these assertions are true, the national security implications are grave and criminal prosecutions must follow.
This story is also a damning indictment of political malpractice. State leaders and federal watchdogs who preside over bloated, opaque welfare systems have created incentives for fraud and turned a blind eye to obvious red flags. Governor Tim Walz and his allies owe taxpayers answers about oversight failures, and a media class that reflexively shields questions about immigrant communities must stop treating truth as a taboo.
Practical conservatives’ solutions are straightforward: shut down programs that lack basic audit trails, freeze suspect payments until forensic accounting is completed, beef up anti‑money‑laundering rules for informal remitters, and prosecute fraudsters to the fullest extent of the law. We should also leverage federal tools to trace remittances and impose sanctions on intermediaries that knowingly move funds to terror groups, while protecting legitimate charity and the rule of law.
Americans paying taxes deserve a government that defends the homeland and safeguards public funds, not one that allows taxpayer dollars to be siphoned into terrorism by way of bureaucratic negligence. Lawmakers both in Minnesota and in Washington must act decisively — this is not an immigrant issue or a partisan talking point, it is a national security and sovereignty crisis that requires accountability now.
