Federal, state, and local law enforcement agents raided 22 locations in Minnesota on Tuesday as part of investigations into alleged fraud in social-welfare programs, agencies said.
The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, alongside state and local partnering agencies, executed search warrants at businesses in the St. Paul area, some of which included autism centers.
“The American people deserve answers in how their taxpayer money was abused,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X.
In March, President Donald Trump named Vice President JD Vance leader of a fraud task force.
“The task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding,” Vance wrote on X.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz praised the coordinated effort, saying if an individual commits fraud in Minnesota, they will be caught.
“We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information,” Walz said on X. “Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it. That’s how the system is supposed to work.”
Minnesota’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit participated in the execution of five search warrants at businesses claiming to provide developmental and behavioral services for people with autism. A news release said all five sites receive Medicaid funding.
The remaining sites that officers searched do not receive Medicaid funding, according to the news release.
Minnesota and its governor came under fire from the Trump administration amid accusations of widespread fraud within the state’s Medicaid-funded programs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services withheld hundreds of millions of dollars to Minnesota, citing fraud concerns.
In the wake of the alleged massive scandal, Walz announced on Jan. 5 he would not seek reelection.
Legitimate autism centers in Minnesota faced closure amid the alleged fraud, which officials have said dates back more than a decade and involves more than $9 billion. A woman who owns an autism center in the state told The Epoch Times she was forced to put hundreds of thousands of dollars into her center to keep it afloat.
She blamed the Minnesota government for turning a blind eye to the “crime ring” involving fraud at Somali-run autism centers on an immense scale.
The Trump administration has accused Somali nationals of largely orchestrating the widespread fraud of federal funding meant for social-welfare programs in Minnesota. In December, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it had charged nearly 100 individuals—85 of whom are of Somali descent—as part of their alleged involvement in a child nutrition program scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the DOJ, the nonprofit Feeding Our Future claimed to have provided millions of meals to schoolchildren.
“Few, if any, were fed,” former Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time.
A whistleblower who works at the Minnesota Department of Human Services told state lawmakers in a hearing this month that “nothing is changing” in her department after she first blew the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse concerns seven years ago.
“I still see a reckless disregard for compliance,” she said.
