Show Notes
The furor over ICE activity in Minneapolis, and the deaths of two “ICE Watch” activists after they obstructed ICE agents, has shifted focus away from the welfare fraud scandal that was why ICE first came to the city.
On Background with Susan Crabtree welcomes reporter and author Anna Giaritelli to the podcast. Giaritelli checks in from her rented car in Minneapolis, just steps from where Renee Good was killed after a confrontation with ICE agents. Her latest piece, for the Washington Examiner, details the public relations crisis ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are facing after the shootings of anti-ICE agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti in the city.
“I’m seeing a lot of ‘ICE Out’ lawn signs,” Giaritelli says of Minneapolis. “You’re getting that from all different types of people. And I haven’t gone downtown yet.” Giaritelli also shares that her sources in Minneapolis told her on Monday they would be leaving the city soon. The following day, however, they told her that plan had been canceled.
Crabtree and Giaritelli both have good sources in DHS and other security agencies and discuss the dysfunction within DHS as they respond to the fury, plucking Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino from the city and bringing in President Trump’s “border czar,” Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) lifer Tom Homan. There has been a running feud between ICE, DHS, and the Border Patrol for months. Capitol Hill Democrats have introduced impeachment articles against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
“The knives have been out, for Kristi for weeks now,” says Crabtree. The resistance to her, and to her close advisor Corey Lewandowski, has been building since she arrived at DHS last year. She hired Lewandowski as a “special government employee,” meaning he didn’t have to be confirmed to his position but could only stay for 130 days under federal law.
Rodney Scott, the CBP veteran and now its commissioner, confronted Lewandowski about his continued presence past the allowed 130-day period, “and that was the trigger moment” that ignited their feud. “Rodney Scott is an above-the-books guy,” Giaritelli says.
“So, Lewandowski started firing people around Rodney,” she adds, “trying to get at his inner circle. They took out those people and replaced them with attorneys that Lewandowski knew. They’re trying to force [Scott] out because they can’t fire him. Only the president can.”
Co-host Eric Eggers is frustrated that the attention has shifted from the enormous fraud by Somali immigrants that was found in Minnesota to the behavior of the ICE agents who are there to enforce federal law. “No one can even spell Somali now because we’re all worried about ICE and the Border Patrol on these shootings,” he says.
Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) also stopped by the show to discuss his estimate that there is $250 billion of fraudulent use of federal funds in California.
“California just dwarfs Minnesota in terms of the fraud,” says Crabtreem, whose 2025 book Fool’s Gold told the story of the state’s corrupt politicians. “Tell us about this $250 billion number. We know about the homeless fraud, but what are the other components?”
“It’s everywhere you look. The unemployment fraud during Covid is confirmed to total at least $32 billion. Community college applications – one third of them were fake and just financial aid fraud,” Kiley says. In the state, “$24 billion was spent on homelessness and they can’t tell you where it went. And $18 billion was spent so far on this high-speed rail, but no track has been laid.”
Kiley is frustrated that auditors have found all of this, but the state’s overwhelmingly Democratic government refuses to address any of it. “The state auditor has identified eight high-risk agencies that are at serious risk of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. They have identified SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medi-Cal and Medicare as areas where we’re losing billions to fraud and improper payments,” he says. “Frankly, that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg.”
Kiley has been active on Capitol Hill. “We convinced the Secretary of Education to institute new identity verification for college community college applications. We cut off all further funding for high-speed rail and made the project ineligible for federal funds going forward,” he says. “I’m actually working on a comprehensive audit from the GAO (Government Accountability Office) to get a handle on the scale of the fraud that exists in the state.”
Crabtree asks Kyle about the mid-decade redistricting that Gov. Newsom got passed on a state ballot in November. California has 53 congressional seats, only 9 of which are held by Republicans. Newsom’s effort to force redrawing the district lines in California is a direct response to Texas’s similar effort. Kiley says he is the top target of the state’s Democrats, and Newsom in particular.
“He literally chopped my district into six different pieces,” Kiley says. “Under this new map, the district as it now exists no longer does exist. Each of those six pieces branches out and forms part of a new district.”
“I’m committed to beating this gerrymander,” he continues. “The reason that I got into public service — fighting to get California back on track — is more important than ever right now. So, I am unwilling to let Newsom use this maneuver to stop us.”
