OPINION:
The $1 billion welfare scandal unfolding in Minnesota — the largest pandemic fraud scheme in our nation’s history — has entangled members of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Somali community, with potential ties back to the congresswoman herself.
Of the 87 people charged, all but eight are of Somali descent.
Ms. Omar has explained that the fraud was executed because of a lack of federal guardrails monitoring the COVID-19 money, and she has urged further investigations (while denying her involvement in any of the schemes).
“How can this amount of money disappear fraudulently without there being alarms set off?” Ms. Omar questioned on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “And it is something that, you know, we have to continue to investigate. We have to continue to ask those questions.”
Yet most of those linked to the scheme live in Ms. Omar’s district, including a restaurant owner who hosted events for her. He has since been convicted of stealing $12 million in COVID-19 funds. A former campaign worker of hers also profited from the scheme.
Ms. Omar is the one who introduced legislation in 2020 that ultimately led to the nonprofit Feeding Our Future being able to defraud the federal government of $250 million. In 2020, some of the money was distributed to Safari Restaurant to provide meals to schoolchildren. Co-owner Salim Ahmed Said allegedly pocketed that cash. Ms. Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party at Safari Restaurant.
Instead of feeding children, Mr. Said used the funds to buy a $2 million Minneapolis mansion and a $9,000-per-month shopping spree at Nordstrom, according to federal prosecutors. Feeding Our Future, now defunct, was used to funnel federal government money to Safari Restaurant. Ms. Omar appeared in a video promoting the nonprofit.
In August, Guhaad Hashi Said, a former campaign official for Ms. Omar, pleaded guilty to running a fake food site, Advance Youth Athletic Development. Mr. Said worked on Ms. Omar’s 2018 and 2020 campaigns, overseeing turnout efforts within the Somali community. Falsely claiming to serve 5,000 meals a day, he accumulated $3.2 million from the site.
In 2021, at the height of the fraud, the Minnesota Department of Education flagged Feeding Our Future for “serious deficiencies,” including incomplete audits submitted to the state and organizational irregularities. At the time, a top aide for Ms. Omar sprang to their defense.
“I’m tired of the MDE thing. How many more do we have to fight against?” Ms. Omar’s deputy district director, Ali Isse, said in a speech at a gala praising Feeding Our Future’s “vital work.” He continued to criticize state agencies for asking too many questions. He blamed the unwanted attention on racism and rallied the “community” to stick together.
“[Ms. Omar] knew who these people were. People she personally knew were making tens of millions of dollars in this program,” Bill Glahn, a policy fellow with the Minnesota-based Center of the American Experiment, told the New York Post last week.
The Treasury Department is examining campaign contributions made by convicted individuals to the coffers of Minnesota lawmakers, including Ms. Omar.
“A lot of money has been transferred from the individuals who committed this fraud,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He alleged that the individuals charged had donated to Gov. Tim Walz, Ms. Omar and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. He said the money “has gone overseas, and we are tracking that both to the Middle East and to Somalia to see what the uses of that have been.”
The Treasury Department said last week that it will investigate whether tax dollars from Minnesota’s welfare programs helped fund the Somalia-based al Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab.
Ms. Omar responded that any campaign contributions she received from convicted individuals have been returned. If any of the siphoned welfare money has gone to fund terrorists, it would be up to the FBI to investigate, she added.
To note, Ms. Omar’s personal coffers have been enriched since she became one of the more vocal members of “The Squad.” When she was first elected to Congress in 2018, she reported a negative net worth, and her 2023 filing showed a net worth of about $65,000. According to a financial disclosure statement filed this May, her net worth, combined with her husband’s assets, spiked to $30 million, a 46,000% increase. Some estimates place her near $40 million by the end of this year.
Yet to question this — or anything to do with the Somali community in Minnesota and their ties to fraud — is to be labeled racist.
“When you raise your hand and call this into question, you get handed the racism card,” David Gaither, a former Minnesota legislator who spent 13 years running an adult education center in Minneapolis for Somali immigrants, told the New York Post. “You’re shamed and put into a corner, especially if you’re some mid-level bureaucrat. You’re told to take some remedial training and look the other way.”
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
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