Schumer silent on Minnesota fraud despite past immigration proposals

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, usually quick to denounce anything he considers a scandal (including most of the Trump administration’s actions), has remained unusually silent about accusations of billion-dollar social services fraud in Minnesota. That’s perhaps understandable, because of the embarrassment it causes for Minnesota governor and former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and for Minnesota’s beloved progressive Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose Somali voters are among the frontrunners — but whom the left-wary Schumer is reluctant to alienate as he faces re-election.

But if Schumer looked at his own legislative record, he might find a cogent and constructive response — one that might even help Democrats still lost on immigration-related issues following the Biden era’s de facto open borders.

In 2013, Schumer was part of a so-called group of eight senators — including then-Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio — who sponsored a sprawling immigration law reform bill, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.” The so-called comprehensive bill included everything from a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants to an increase in visas for foreign students in STEM fields — proposals even more likely to draw Republican opposition today than in 2013, when the bill died in the House after passing the Senate.

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Schumer insisted that “piecemeal reforms” should not be considered — but one aspect of the bill he approved could serve him — and centrist Democrats — today, if he were willing to revive it. The proposed Office of Citizenship and New Americans places the Senate leader in favor of what used to be called Americanization or assimilation, and more recently “integration” of immigrants. It was clear that immigrants from countries that did not share American legal and cultural norms needed to be exposed to them – as part of their English education.

Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer once had a plan to help integrate new immigrants. (Screenshot/ABC)

An “Office of Citizenship and New Americans” would be responsible for “training on citizenship responsibilities for new immigrants,” including “information on English language and citizenship education programs,” according to the American Immigration Council. Keep in mind that passing a citizenship test requires knowledge of the Constitution and the U.S. legal system.

Also aiming for “upward economic mobility,” it’s the kind of initiative that would have been ideal for Minneapolis’ Somalis, some 90,000 of whom have Somali as their first language and come from a country ranked among the most corrupt in the world. Transparency International actually gives it a score of only 9/100, making it 179th out of 180 countries, or the second most corrupt government in the world. The situation is actually even worse since 2023, when it ranked 177th. Only war-torn South Sudan ranks lower.

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In other words, immigration to a historically clean state like Minnesota would constitute a cultural adjustment for Somalis, putting them in a position to take advantage of the overconfidence of local residents.

The United States has historically profited from immigration by promoting values ​​like trust, integrity, and the rule of law — and the idea that the best way to move forward is to embrace those values. It’s a tradition that dates back to the immigration wave of the early 20th century, when hundreds of volunteer-run “settlement houses” taught English and prepared immigrants to become citizens.

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It’s not as if European immigrants don’t have their own corruption problems, such as those imported by the Sicilian mafia from a region known for its honor society dysfunction. (See Edward Banfield’s brilliant 1958 book on Sicily, “The Moral Foundations of a Backward Society.”) To remember those who fought such a culture, think of Nobel laureate Jane Addams, founder of Hull House in Chicago, who worked to teach South Side immigrants to cook healthy dinners and not throw their trash in the street.

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This city, along with Minneapolis and so many others, should adopt his approach today — and Schumer’s Office of Citizenship and New Americans would have helped, even if he hadn’t cut the broader Gordian knot of immigration policy.

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Of course, any government program – including one designed to Americanize immigrants – could be exploited by scammers. Minnesota’s core problem remains to be resolved – a naive government asleep at the wheel. Indeed, a civil society approach – led by charities and volunteers – would be preferable.

But a Democratic Party still eager to propose a government solution could do worse than revive Schumer’s 2013 idea — and that might have done Minneapolis some good.

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