By Jared Evan
(JEWISH VOICE NEWS) President Trump announced Friday night that he is terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in Minnesota, citing a bombshell investigative report in City Journal by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo.
The report detailed large-scale welfare fraud in the state, much of it carried out through networks within Minnesota’s Somali community, which funneled billions of taxpayer dollars overseas, some of which reportedly ended up in the hands of the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.
BREAKING – It has been revealed that Somalians in Minnesota have been using fraudulent autism Medicare claims to fund the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab, with claims rising from $3 million in 2018 to $399 million in 2023, effectively making Minnesota taxpayers the group’s largest… pic.twitter.com/SXOqi7VJ1m
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) November 20, 2025
“Minnesota, under Governor Walz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the TPS Program for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER! President DJT.”
According to the City Journal report, the fraud schemes involved Medicaid programs, childcare-meal reimbursements, and autism services, with the scale of the abuses ballooning over the last several years. Autism-related Medicaid claims in Minnesota, for example, grew from $3 million in 2018 to $399 million in 2023, while the number of providers increased from 41 to 328, many of them operated by Somali community members offering “culturally appropriate” services. Investigators found that one in sixteen Somali four-year-olds in the state was diagnosed with autism—a rate more than three times the state average.
🚨BREAKING: “The Minnesota tax payers are funneling money through FRAUDULENT autism claims back to Somalia where that money lands in the accounts of Al-Shabaab.”
Al-Shabaab is “an Al-Qaeda linked Islamic terror group.”
Deport every single one of them & arrest anyone who helped. pic.twitter.com/PXFiJ0s76S
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) November 21, 2025
“This is a third-rail conversation, but the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” a source told Thorpe and Rufo, emphasizing the national security implications if funds were ever traced to acts of terrorism. Law enforcement officials cited by the journalists noted that multi-million-dollar fraud schemes, including Feeding Our Future, Housing Stabilization Services, and autism programs, form an interconnected web of abuses that have siphoned billions from U.S. taxpayers.
As Zero Hedge pointed out, the report has triggered widespread national attention and suggests that sweeping reforms are likely, particularly under the banner of national security. Zero Hedge noted that the Manhattan Institute may already have frameworks ready for executive action to address these issues.
The Trump administration’s move drew immediate pushback from Minnesota Democrats. Representative Ilhan Omar criticized the decision on X, saying, “I am a citizen and so are the majority of Somalis in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate. We are here to stay.” Governor Tim Walz also condemned the action, writing that targeting an entire community is “what [Trump] does to change the subject,” while notably failing to reference Thorpe and Rufo’s findings.
I am a citizen and so are majority of Somalis in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate. We are here to stay 💁🏽♀️ https://t.co/JHSO3PKL6O
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 22, 2025
As Zero Hedge highlighted, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has documented dozens of fraud cases since 2019, with Somali networks implicated in the majority of large-scale schemes. Analysts argue that the state’s Democratic policies, including generous refugee resettlement programs, have inadvertently created a vulnerability exploited by fraudsters and potentially linked to terrorist financing.
Trump’s TPS termination reflects a direct federal response to what Thorpe and Rufo describe as a “nation-killing” confluence of welfare fraud and overseas terrorist funding. With billions of taxpayer dollars at stake, the administration framed the action as both a law-and-order measure and a national security priority, while the political fallout is expected to dominate Minnesota’s midterm election discussions.
