The Minnesota Somali fraud scandal is a peephole into efficacy of social welfare program failures

The Minnesota Fraud Scandal Just Got a Whole Lot Worse for Walz and Omar

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/12/06/the-minnesota-fraud-scandal-just-got-a-whole-lot-worse-for-walz-and-omar-n4946756#google_vignette

MATT MARGOLIS  | 9:22 AM ON DECEMBER 06, 2025

Earlier this month, over 400 Minnesota Department of Human Services employees accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz of being "100% responsible" for the massive fraud in Minnesota. I wrote at the time that the Minnesota Somali fraud scandal could take down Walz, and every day it looks even more likely. And what do you know, the scandal just got significantly worse for Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar. Newly surfaced photographs show both Democrats smiling alongside Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, a Somali national and convicted fraudster who spent decades in America as an illegal immigrant before Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently arrested him.

Ibrahim's rap sheet stretches back to Canada, where he was convicted of asylum and welfare fraud before slipping into the United States through New York in 1995, following his deportation from Canada. Despite his history, Ibrahim managed to remain in the country for roughly 30 years, accumulating at least a dozen traffic and parking violations along the way. In 2002, he was arrested for driving without a valid license and for providing false information to law enforcement, earning him a fine and one year of probation. An immigration judge ordered his removal on April 3, 2004, citing significant fraud associated with him. Yet Ibrahim wasn't arrested until 2025, a staggering 21 years after that deportation order was issued.

During his prolonged stay in America as an illegal immigrant committing massive fraud, Ibrahim managed to get really close to some of Minnesota's most prominent political figures. DHS shared those images online, showing Ibrahim posing with Walz, Omar, and failed Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar FatehThe timing couldn't be worse for Walz and Omar, who are already drowning in scrutiny over what may be the largest welfare fraud scandal in state history.

Walz faces mounting pressure and increasing calls for a formal investigation into his role in allowing massive welfare fraud schemes to flourish on his watch. Estimates of taxpayer-funded fraud across multiple public assistance programs now suggest the total could exceed $8 billion.

A significant portion of that fraud allegedly involves individuals within Minnesota's large Somali community, numbering around 80,000 people.

Neither Omar nor Walz has been formally accused of criminal conduct in connection with the Minnesota Somali fraud scandal. But so far, neither has handled the situation well, and the damning photos of each of them with Ibrahim have created a political nightmare that shows no signs of fading.

When CNN's Jake Tapper recently asked her, "Why did fraud in Minnesota get so out of control?" Omar appeared to struggle with her response.

"I think what happened, um, is that, you know, when you have these, kind of, new programs that are, um, designed to help people, you're oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate," she said. "And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up — they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created.The excuse just doesn’t cut it.

With the Ibrahim photos now circulating, the question isn't just about oversight failures anymore. It's about how deep the corruption runs in a state that has become a national embarrassment.

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