Feds conduct Minnesota raids related to alleged welfare fraud

Law enforcement agencies are executing multiple search warrants in Minnesota on Tuesday in connection with alleged fraud in the state’s welfare programs, according to federal officials.    

“Homeland Security Investigations in cooperation with our law enforcement partners executed criminal search warrants in Minneapolis relating to the rampant fraud of U.S. taxpayers dollars,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared in a post on social platform X.

Raids were conducted on 22 locations across the Twin Cities area on Tuesday morning, mostly targeting child and daycare providers that receive Medicaid funding, sources told Nexstar’s KARE 11.

The search warrants were reportedly not related to any immigration enforcement operation.

“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” the Justice Department (DOJ) said in a statement to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network.

Officials in Minneapolis said on Tuesday morning that the city was not involved in the federal operations and had not been asked to assist with executing any warrants.

“We understand that any federal actions in our neighborhoods may spark fear among residents, and we will continue to marshal City resources to help the community in the aftermath of Operation Metro Surge,” a post on the city’s X account read. 

The Trump administration dispatched federal authorities to Minnesota in early January to investigate what officials described as “rampant fraud” in the state’s social services program. It came on the heels of a sweeping federal probe in which dozens of people have been charged.

President Trump claimed in November that Minnesota had become a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” tying the allegation to Somali immigrants living in the state.   

Sources told Fox News reporter Bill Melugin on Tuesday that the locations targeted in the morning raids were largely Somali-linked businesses, including the “Quality Learning Center” daycare.

“The task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding,” Vice President Vance wrote on X.

Trump administration officials announced in February that hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding to Minnesota would be temporarily halted over fraud concerns, a move Gov. Tim Walz (D) slammed as “political punishment.”

Walz, who dropped his bid for reelection in January amid mounting scrutiny over his handling of the fraud scandal, appeared supportive of the raids on Tuesday.

“If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today,” he wrote on X. “We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it.”