How ICE raids in Minnesota connect to a years-old fraud scandal

On Wednesday morning, the Department of Homeland Security posted on X, “GOOD MORNING MINNEAPOLIS!” Rep. Tom Emmer, a House Republican leader who represents Minneapolis suburbs, commented with encouragement: “Go out there and get ‘em.”

The Trump administration has surged thousands of immigration agents into the Twin Cities in what it has called the largest DHS operation ever. While the administration often frames its deportation operations as efforts to keep Americans safe, it has added another angle to its Minnesota campaign: eradicating fraud.

In 2022, during the Biden administration, federal prosecutors uncovered an enormous scheme to defraud a pandemic meals program in Minnesota’s Somali community, leading to charges against dozens of defendants and a growing number of convictions.

In the weeks leading up to the DHS deployment, conservative commentators had elevated that years-old scandal, suggesting that fraud was a reason to target East African migrants in the Minneapolis area. And within days of the story taking hold in conservative social media circles, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X that agents were “on the ground” in response.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ice-raids-minnesota-connect-years-110040610.html