Minnesota is likely to see a lot of the Department of Homeland Security in 2026.
As allegations continue to rise that the state is the home of massive theft of taxpayer funds, the Land of 10,000 Lakes is becoming better known as Ground Zero for social services fraud.
Some sources have labeled it “Somali fraud,” as many of the programs being investigated are located in areas populated by Somali immigrants, and 82 of the 92 defendants charged so far are Somali Americans, according to the Associated Press.
And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is putting boots on the ground.
Homeland Security Investigations @ICEGov are on the ground in Minneapolis right now conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.
More coming. pic.twitter.com/wmQ1x0t4Sc
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) December 29, 2025
“Homeland Security Investigations @ICEGov are on the ground in Minneapolis right now conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud,” Noem wrote in a post published Monday on the social media platform X.
“More coming.”
And when that “more” does come, it’s going to make Minnesota look even worse.
The state — under the leadership of Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s most recent nominee for vice president of the United States — has been buffeted for weeks by a torrent of revelations about Minnesotans, including many Somali immigrants, abusing the state’s generous social welfare programs for personal gain.
While the amount originally estimated to have been stolen since 2018 was put in the ballpark of $1 billion, the figure is now at $9 billion — an “industrial-scale fraud,” as Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson put it in a Dec. 18 news conference, according to The Associated Press.
On Friday, YouTube personality Nick Shirley posted video that added fuel to the already-raging fire, showing taxpayer-funded day care centers in Minnesota that appeared to be operating with no children present.
To say the video went viral would be an understatement. It’s been explosive, and the fallout is far from over.
As of Sunday, it had drawn more than 100 million views on X, as noted by the X account @cb_doge, which is aligned with X owner Elon Musk.
Musk himself publicized that news in his own X post.
More than any the daily readership of all newspapers in America combined https://t.co/5ZqlH5SlfI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2025
“More than any of the daily readership of all newspapers in America combined,” Musk wrote.
By Monday afternoon, that number had passed 110 million, according to Newsweek. And it had a role to play in the DHS announcement Monday.
In a post on X, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLauglin wrote that the agency’s surge would focus on “fraudulent daycare and healthcare centers, as well as other rampant fraud.”
Right now in Minneapolis, Homeland Security Investigations @ICEGov are on the ground conducting a large scale investigation on fraudulent daycare and healthcare centers, as well as other rampant fraud.
More to come. pic.twitter.com/GOXvZYSl5J
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) December 29, 2025
Both Noem and McLaughlin’s posts included video of DHS agents visiting targeted locations to question individuals involved.
It’s a scene Minnesotans — especially the state’s expatriate Somali community — should be getting used to in the coming year.
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