Minnesota fraud gets national attention

The Walz administration is getting nationwide attention, though it isn't the type of attention political administrations typically seek. Sohrab Ahmari didn't bury the lede when he wrote "There is no whitewashing this scandal: segments of the Somali community in Minneapolis have been engaged in systematic welfare fraud, and used some of the proceeds to fund the Al-Shabaab terror group in their homeland."

Imagine the Outrage If...

Imagine the outrage if "Hassan and her alleged co-conspirators recruited Somali parents’ children into autism therapy services — even if a child did not have an autism diagnosis — facilitating fraudulent claims. Parents reportedly received monthly kickbacks ranging from $300 to $1,500 per child, with some allegedly threatening to go to other fraud networks unless their rates were increased."

It doesn't end there:

Sure enough, both the number of autism providers and the rate of diagnosis have ballooned, with Somali activists insisting, as City Journal reported, that their community needs separate services offering "culturally appropriate programming" (but of course!).

At least three law-enforcement sources working the Somali community told the outlet that some of the funds in question almost certainly made their way to Somalia’s Al Qaeda affiliate, al-Shabaab ("the youth"). The funds, the sources said, make their way back home through informal money-transfer networks, with the result that Minnesota taxpayers ended up serving as one of the terror group’s largest underwriters.

This business model can't work if the Walz administration paid attention to these programs. Further, we've learned through multiplee OLA reports that the Legislative Auditor told Minnesota's Department of Human Services that they needed additional safeguards to prevent fraud.

On top of that, only 1 elected official paid attention to this developing situation. St. Cloud City Councilmember Jeff Johnson proposed a moratorium on the Refugee Resettlement Program. He proposed this through a resolution. That resolution got defeated 6-1, with Jeff Johnson being the lone vote for the moratorium. The person fighting hardest against Jeff was Jodi Harpstead, then the president of Lutheran Social Services (LSS).

After the meeting, Harpstead chased Jeff into a back room behind the Council Chamber. Eventually, Jeff won that fight. Eventually, LSS caved and started letting the community into the quarterly planning meetings. Still, after that, Ms. Harpstead left LSS, eventually becoming Tim Walz's pick to become Commissioner of Minnesota's Department of Human Services. Harpstead testifying:

Harpstead named Commissioner:

Having worked with the Refugee Resettlement Program, Ms. Harpstead understood that President Trump planned to curtail the Refuge Resettlement Program rather dramatically. Despite all of the controversy, Councilman Jeff Johnson was the only elected official who paid attention to the program. LSS certainly didn't. The question is why Minnesota's Department of Human Services didn't pay more attention.