Somalis Get Rich While Minnesota Sleeps

Did anyone really think that bringing a tribal culture to a strange land, mixed with government incompetence and a blind eye, would have a favorable ending? Our government may have the best of intentions, but it rarely thinks things through, and God forbid it looks at past results. We have a history of intervening in tumultuous situations around the globe, and believe that a viable solution is to remove thousands of oppressed people from their homeland, relocate them to a select region in America, and think they will seamlessly assimilate in their new home.

Aided by the Catholic Church, thousands of Somali refugees were relocated to Lewiston, Maine, starting in 2001. This influx of people brought tremendous strife to the region, as the newcomers had difficulty adjusting to their new home and environment, and placed a substantial financial burden on the area, stretching services to accommodate them. Fast forward 25 years, and the Somali population has become the city’s dominant force. The Somalis did not assimilate. They patiently positioned themselves to take over the city.

Barack Obama brought over 50,000 Somalis to America, many of whom were resettled in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The largest concentration is in Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, which is sometimes called “Little Mogadishu”. Some reports show that as many as 80,000 residents of Minneapolis are of Somali descent. These people survived much hardship in their war-ridden homeland, and many were in refugee camps before coming to America. They learned to be resourceful to survive. In Minnesota, they also learned to get rich at the expense of Minnesota taxpayers.

Over the last few years, the schemes enacted by Somalis under the inept tenure of Governor Tim Walz have defrauded the state and its citizens of billions of dollars from just about every social and relief program available. These people became more than resourceful. They learned how to steal from the very people who took them in.

Recent arrests of individuals of Somali descent in Minnesota include Kamal Said Hassan for terrorism-related charges and Mukhtar Shariff for a large-scale fraud scheme. Other individuals have also faced legal action for fraud, such as Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, who was sentenced to 28 years in a federal food aid fraud case. Additionally, community activist Omar Jamal was detained and later released from ICE custody in late 2025. These individuals are the tip of the iceberg in a situation that goes deep into the Somali population in Minnesota.

Programs like food aid and housing are prime for corruption, and the Somalis also tapped into COVID-19 relief funds. Currently, 77 individuals have been charged with stealing funds from the Feeding Our Future program in Minnesota. One of the current schemes involves Autism relief, as the number of Somali children in Minnesota, diagnosed with Autism and qualifying for federal aid, has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, most of these “victims” do not exist except on paper and on government checks.

This situation is so vast and involves so many departments of state government that even if Governor Walz were able, the scope is beyond the resources of state law enforcement. The federal government has to get involved, and that will have to come at Walz’s request, which is highly unlikely. In the meantime, Minnesota residents will have to be content with their tax dollars enriching their Somali neighbors.