Welfare fraud in Minnesota has been rampant for more than a decade, and the worst part is that some of the stolen funds have found their way to terrorist networks in Somalia.
GAI Research Director Seamus Bruner appeared on the Tudor Dixon podcast recently to explain that the latest news — and dramatic YouTube videos of empty child care centers in Minneapolis — are just the most obvious part of the problem.
“Some of this money was apparently making it to al-Shabaab terror networks,” Bruner told the host. “That tracks with what we’ve found. In our 2018 report, we found that the Boston bombers were using welfare money to, to enable their schemes. Even the 9/11 hijackers, were taking advantage of welfare.”
Back in 2018, GAI researched and reported on rampant fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Drawing on findings from welfare fraud inspectors, news accounts, and the government’s own reports, GAI showed that SNAP funds were being stolen and misused and in some cases even transferred to terrorist organizations in Africa through a shadowy network of hawalas (Islamic banks).
Bruner described the current Minnesota scandal as one of the most egregious cases of welfare fraud in U.S. history. More than $1 billion allegedly has been siphoned from Minnesota food programs. Because of weak or nonexistent oversight by state government authorities, taxpayer money was stolen, flaunted through luxury lifestyles, and, in some cases, routed to foreign terror networks.
The discussion broadens to systemic government failures, massive Biden-era spending bills, and how rushed appropriations created fertile ground for fraud. Bruner argues these policies enable a political and financial elite to launder taxpayer dollars into ideological causes, from infrastructure waste to EV mandates and protest movements, while harming working Americans and undermining national security.
