Stephen Miller Says Somali Fraud Scandal Could Create Unprecedented Milestone In US History
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Friday that the Minnesota welfare fraud scandal, centered on Somali immigrants, could constitute the “largest financial fraud” in U.S. history.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is swooping into the Minneapolis area to target illegal immigrants from Somalia after revelations of at least $1 billion in fraud, prompting the Treasury Department to open an investigation into allegations that some of the stolen funds went to the radical Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab. Miller observed during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle” that almost all Somalis who immigrated to Minnesota were on welfare programs. (RELATED: Stephen Miller Says CNN Refuses to Book Him on Their Air)
“The Somali community has been engaged in systematic fraud against the government for years,” Miller told Ingraham. “We are going to find that at the end of the day, we are currently in the throes of a thorough, all-player federal investigation, which is to say that the scope, scale, size and magnitude of the fraud dwarfs anyone’s worst nightmare.”
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“According to official government records, 90 percent of Somali households with children receive federal welfare. The real number is probably 100 percent because federal records always underestimate the numbers,” Miller said. “You’re talking about an imported population in Minnesota, where virtually every member of the population receives welfare from the federal government. This could very well end up, Laura, being the largest financial fraud scandal in American history.”
State workers have accused Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota of engaging in “systemic” retaliation against whistleblowers who warned of fraudulent schemes as the Justice Department pursues several federal cases. Walz admitted during a Nov. 30 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the state “attracts criminals,” but he also demanded that Somali residents not be demonized.
Walz also attacked Trump on Friday for highlighting the fraud, saying the president was “indiscriminately targeting immigrants.” Trump announced he would end “temporary protected status” for Somalis in Minneapolis in response to the allegations and also said the influx of refugees had “destroyed our country.”
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