When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) dropped the bombshell Monday that he would not seek reelection, he made sure to aim his parting shots in a familiar direction: President Donald Trump.
According to Walz, Trump is supposedly out to “make our state a colder, meaner place” by “attacking our neighbors”—a line that sounded less like a serious reflection and more like a final attempt to deflect blame.
By “neighbors,” Tim Walz is plainly referring to the Somali community—a voting bloc the Democratic Party, including Kamala Harris’s wing of the party, has treated as politically untouchable for years. That context matters, because it’s precisely within programs serving that community that Walz’s administration is now facing the most intense scrutiny.
As the Donald Trump administration moves to uncover the scope of alleged fraud across Minnesota’s social-service programs, those long-simmering failures are coming into sharp focus.
But hey, to Walz’s point, Team Trump is taking decisive and comprehensive action to, in the words of the White House, “crush Minnesota’s fraud epidemic.” It all begins with the Department of Justice, which is “engaged in multiple active, ongoing, and extensive investigations into the fraudulent activity that has occurred in various Minnesota programs, including the state’s Feeding Our Future, Housing Stabilization Services, Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention programs, and Evergreen Recovery.”
The DOJ has charged 98 defendants in fraud-related cases, primarily from the Somali community, resulting in 64 secured convictions so far. Additionally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is actively looking into several health care and home daycare providers in Minnesota who are suspected of fraud. There are concerns that some of these individuals may have connections to elected officials and potential links to terrorist financing.
The Trump Administration is unleashing a relentless assault to dismantle the Somali-dominated fraud empires in Minnesota.
These complex criminal networks didn't build themselves overnight — and rooting it out requires thorough, methodical work.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 3, 2026
are only the opening salvo. The Department of Homeland Security has already gone door to door at suspected fraud sites while simultaneously ramping up immigration enforcement operations across Minnesota.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has frozen federal childcare payments to the state and launched investigations into Minnesota’s Head Start programs amid allegations that fraud was being committed by illegal aliens. That’s a dramatic step—and one taken only when federal officials believe the concerns are serious and credible.
And this doesn’t end there. Multiple other departments and agencies are now moving in parallel to enforce accountability, signaling that Minnesota’s era of lax oversight and political excuses is coming to a close:
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The Small Business Administration has halted all annual grant program payments to Minnesota. The agency also suspended 6,900 borrowers in the state for approximately $400 million in suspected fraudulent activity — banning the individuals from all further loan programs, including disaster loans.
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development has dispatched a team to Minnesota to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into possible public housing assistance fraud.
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The Department of Labor is currently conducting a targeted review of Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance program.
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The Department of Agriculture has demanded Minnesota conduct recertification for its SNAP recipients to ensure the program complies with eligibility requirements — a commonsense move inexplicably challenged in court by state officials.
All of the federal scrutiny descending on Minnesota appears to have been too much for Walz, who on Monday lashed out: “Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place. They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.”
A Trump-sized dose of accountability has finally arrived after years of lax oversight, ignored warnings, and mounting allegations of fraud across state programs. Rather than face voters and answer hard questions, Walz is choosing the exit ramp, hoping to slip offstage quietly and recast scrutiny as persecution.
That gambit may spare him a tough campaign—but it won’t stop the investigations. The Trump administration isn’t interested in narratives; it’s interested in answers. And judging by the breadth of federal involvement now underway, Minnesota’s era of deflection is over.
