We are the victims — the American taxpayers and the children who were supposed to be fed — and we were betrayed. Federal Homeland Security officials moved into Minneapolis on Monday to confront what authorities now describe as one of the largest fraud schemes tied to COVID-19 relief in the United States. For years, while families struggled to survive the pandemic, money meant to protect children was allegedly siphoned away.
The investigation traces back to a $300 million fraud scheme centered on the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, an organization prosecutors say exploited a state-run, federally funded child nutrition program. That program existed to make sure children did not go hungry. Instead, prosecutors say it became a pipeline for theft, abuse, and deception. While the public trusted the system, our money disappeared.
Earlier in December, federal prosecutors revealed a stunning allegation: half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. That money belonged to us — the taxpayers. It was intended to support children, families, housing services, and autism programs, not to enrich fraudsters.
So far, 57 defendants have been convicted, and 92 defendants have been charged in schemes involving child nutrition, housing assistance, and services for vulnerable populations. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota, 82 of the defendants are Somali Americans. This fact has intensified political and community tension, but it does not change the core reality: public funds were allegedly stolen, and the public was harmed.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has said fraud will not be tolerated and that his administration will continue working with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught. But from a victim’s perspective, those assurances come after years of unchecked losses and broken oversight — years during which children were denied help and taxpayers were misled.
On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem released video footage showing DHS officers entering an unidentified business and questioning workers. She said they were conducting a “massive investigation into childcare and other rampant fraud.” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated bluntly that the American people deserve answers — and arrests — when taxpayer money is abused.
The FBI reinforced the urgency of the situation the following day. FBI Director Kash Patel announced that additional personnel and investigative resources had been sent to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs, warning that earlier arrests were only “the tip of a very large iceberg.” For victims, that statement confirms what we already feared: the damage may be far greater than what has been uncovered so far.
As investigations continue, tensions have risen between state and federal authorities, especially as the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement has focused on the Somali community in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, the largest such community in the country. These tensions do not erase the harm done — nor do they replace accountability for those who allegedly abused public trust.
Governor Walz’s office says his administration has worked for years to crack down on fraud, supporting criminal prosecutions, strengthening oversight, and hiring outside auditors to review payments to high-risk programs. But for us — the victims — the consequences are already clear: children who went hungry, programs that lost credibility, and billions of taxpayer dollars that may never be recovered.
At the center of this case remains Feeding Our Future, identified by prosecutors as a key organization in a fraud that exploited emergency funding, abused public trust, and left real people paying the price.