Minnesota Reformer (file photo)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents served multiple search warrants Tuesday in Minnesota in an ongoing fraud investigation by the Trump administration of publicly funded social programs, authorities said.
Few details were released, though state officials appeared to welcome the action, saying they, too, have a role.
The searches warrants were a “result of state, county, and federal agencies working together to root out fraud and hold bad actors accountable,” said the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families, which administers the programs.
“We will continue sharing information with law enforcement to ensure they are able to conduct thorough criminal investigations,” the department said.
Tensions between Minnesota and the Trump administration were high during an extraordinary immigration crackdown that led to the deaths of two people before the operation was eased in February.
Before that crackdown, the government had brought fraud charges against dozens of people, many of them Somali Americans, who were accused of fleecing a federal program that was meant to provide food to children. The investigation began during the Biden administration. More than 60 people have been convicted.
“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 said.
The department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for more information Tuesday. Agents were seen outside a daycare center.
In February, Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would temporarily halt $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Minnesota sued in response, warning it may have to cut healthcare for low-income families, but a judge on April 6 declined to grant a restraining order.
Gov. Tim Walz told Congress in March that he wanted to work with the federal government to help with fraud investigations, but that the immigration surge was making it more difficult.
“The people of Minnesota have been singled out and targeted for political retribution at an unparalleled scale,” Walz said at the time.
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