Minneapolis (Somalia Today) — Federal agents raided 22 businesses in Minneapolis on Tuesday, many with ties to the city’s Somali immigrant community, as part of a widening investigation into alleged misuse of federal funds.
The Justice Department said the FBI was working with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in what it described as a court-approved operation linked to an ongoing fraud probe.
“Today, the FBI, with federal, state and local law enforcement, is involved in court-authorised law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” a Justice Department spokesman said.
A department official said the searches were not part of an immigration enforcement operation.
The Minnesota attorney general’s office helped execute five warrants at autism support centres that receive Medicaid funding, a spokesman for Attorney General Keith Ellison said. Authorities also searched day care centres and other facilities.
Officials did not immediately announce any arrests or charges directly linked to Tuesday’s searches.
Widening fraud crackdown
The raids mark the latest escalation in a sprawling federal and state crackdown on alleged fraud involving Minnesota safety-net programs, including child care, autism services, housing assistance and pandemic-era food aid.
The investigations have drawn intense scrutiny in Minnesota, where prosecutors have pursued a series of cases accusing service providers of billing public programs for care or services that were inflated, unnecessary or never delivered.
The most prominent case was the Feeding Our Future scandal, in which federal prosecutors said dozens of defendants exploited pandemic-era child nutrition programs and stole about $250 million meant to feed low-income children.
That case has produced dozens of convictions and has become one of the largest Covid-era fraud prosecutions in the US.
Federal prosecutors have since expanded their focus to other publicly funded programs, including autism services and housing stabilisation benefits.
In one autism case, prosecutors accused defendants of enrolling children in programs and submitting fraudulent claims for services that were unnecessary, inflated or not provided.
Minnesota officials have said fraud in social-service programs must be prosecuted aggressively, while also warning against broad attacks on immigrant communities whose businesses often serve vulnerable families.
Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, welcomed Tuesday’s coordination between state and federal authorities.
“We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information,” Walz said. “Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it.”
Political backlash
The raids come amid mounting political pressure over Minnesota’s handling of fraud allegations.
Walz announced in January that he would not seek a third term, after criticism from Republicans and some Democrats over whether state agencies acted quickly enough to detect and stop fraud in public assistance programs.
The Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge late last year after months of conservative attacks over alleged fraud in Minnesota programs. The crackdown has triggered protests and deepened political divisions in the state.
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly linked the fraud cases to Minnesota’s Somali community.
The rhetoric has drawn accusations from Democrats and community leaders that they are using criminal investigations to stigmatise an entire immigrant population.
At a Cabinet meeting last year, Trump said he did not want Somali immigrants in the country and referred to them as “garbage.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, praised Tuesday’s raids and thanked federal authorities for “taking action against Somali fraudsters.”
“President Trump and his administration have made it crystal clear — our country will not tolerate waste, fraud, and abuse, and we are not going to allow people to take advantage of Americans’ generosity,” Emmer said.
Vice President JD Vance also backed the operation, saying on X that the Justice Department “will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding.”
Somalis under scrutiny
The Somali community in Minnesota is the largest in the US and has become an important part of the state’s social, business and political life.
Many Somali-owned businesses operate in health care, child care, transportation and social services, sectors that depend heavily on state and federal reimbursement programs.
Community advocates say that has made legitimate providers vulnerable to political attacks when fraud allegations emerge.
Somali leaders have condemned fraud but warned that political rhetoric has gone beyond accountability and turned into collective blame.
They argue that authorities should treat criminal cases as individual allegations, not as evidence against a broader community that includes refugees, U.S. citizens, small-business owners, health workers and public servants.
Federal officials did not link the latest searches to immigration status, and the Justice Department stressed that Tuesday’s operation focused on alleged fraud, not immigration enforcement.
Still, the raids are likely to intensify debate over public-program oversight, immigrant-owned businesses and the political fallout from Minnesota’s fraud cases.
Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing.
