WASHINGTON — Republican senators vowed to crack down on Minnesota fraud suspects during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, citing a wave of child care fraud scandals in the state and beyond. The push drew fierce opposition from Democrats over enforcement tactics targeting immigrant communities.
In January, the Department of Homeland Security deployed thousands of ICE agents to Minnesota, partly in response to alleged welfare fraud involving immigrant Somali communities. Amid nationwide protests after federal agents killed Minneapolis residents Renée Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti, Democratic senators argued that the Trump administration is using fraud as a pretext to advance a broader immigration crackdown.
Republicans, however, maintained that revoking citizenship in cases of fraud is a warranted and necessary form of prevention, with Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., introducing the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act. If enacted, the legislation would allow the federal government to deport immigrants involved in “substantial fraud” against government welfare or assistance programs.
Subcommittee chair Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, opened the hearing with a heated denunciation of Minnesota officials, claiming they deliberately turned a blind eye to welfare fraud and even retaliated against efforts to expose it. He urged attendees to look at the witness table, emphasizing that officials, including Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, chose to “hide out” despite being invited to testify.
Ranking member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., pushed back against Cruz’s accusations.
“What a strange thing it is to have a hearing about Minnesota that doesn’t address what’s on the front page of every newspaper about Minnesota, the violent and unwelcome federal occupation of its largest city,” Whitehouse said. “That may explain why elected officials in Minnesota have something better to do today.”
Whitehouse pointed out the irony of holding a hearing about fraud that doesn’t address the “colossal fraud” orchestrated by the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump’s 34 felony counts related to business fraud.
Robert Weissman, co-president of the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen, echoed that view. He said that while fraud exists in Minnesota, it is not unique to the state.
“The subtitle of this hearing is ‘Dealing with Fraud in Minnesota and Beyond,’” Weissman said. “When it comes to corporate fraud or scams perpetrated by those close to the administration, the policy is to ignore, forgive or coddle the wrongdoers if they’re actually caught.”
He added that the Trump administration’s actions have undermined efforts to prevent fraud by diverting the FBI from its fraud investigations to immigration enforcement.
Weissman later found himself in a charged exchange with Cruz, who argued that Democrats have a tendency to deflect from the facts of what is happening in Minnesota.
“I get you want to testify how much you hate Donald Trump, but I’m quite certain Donald Trump was not running a fraudulent daycare center or a fraudulent autism center in Minnesota,” Cruz said.
David Hoch, an independent investigative journalist featured in YouTuber Nick Shirley’s videos, which are credited for first breaking the Minnesota fraud claims, described the extent of fraud in Minnesota.
He recalled seeing misspelled signs and a lack of children’s footprints in the snow during his investigation of child care facilities. He said many centers posted hours that would have required two licenses despite only having one.
“The way we fix this is that the federal government has to go to the Minnesota Department of Human Services and every social service agency and say, ‘Look, if you issue a payment using federal money and it goes to a fraudulent company, you run the risk of us coming in, arresting you, handcuffing you, parading you out, bringing you in front of a judge and putting you in prison,’” Hoch said.
Amid the partisanship, Weissman identified a divide over the importance of fraud across the aisle.
“The Republican senators are focused on a case in Minnesota they think is politically helpful for them, but are oblivious to the far greater fraud that is going around in the country that is centered in the Trump administration itself,” Weissman told Medill News Service. “Of course, everyone says they’re against fraud, but I do not credit in general that they actually care about it. If they did, I think they would be doing different things.”