More than 400 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) are accusing Gov. Tim Walz of failing to act on repeated fraud warnings and retaliating against those who tried to sound the alarm.
The Minnesota Department of Human Service Employees account on X, which says it represents more than 480 current DHS staffers, wrote that Walz is “100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota.”
“We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response,” the group alleged. “Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports. In addition to retaliating against whistleblower[s], Tim Walz disempowered the Office of the Legislative Auditor, allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and guidance.”
Walz’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The employees’ claims come as federal prosecutors continue to unravel one of the largest alleged fraud schemes of the COVID era.
The Justice Department recently announced new charges against the 78th defendant in the Feeding Our Future fraud case, which prosecutors say involved more than $250 million in misappropriated funds from a federally funded child nutrition program and has already led to over 50 convictions. Many of the individuals charged are members of Minnesota’s Somali community.
The New York Times reported that what initially seemed to many Minnesotans like an isolated instance of pandemic-era fraud has expanded into a broader concern for state and federal authorities. According to law enforcement officials cited by the outlet, multiple fraud schemes have emerged in parts of Minnesota’s Somali community over the past five years, including allegations that some individuals created companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars in social services that were never actually provided.
The Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, citing unnamed federal counterterrorism sources, also reported that a portion of the stolen funds was transferred to Somalia and may have reached the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, though none of the federal charges in the fraud cases to date includes any terrorism-related counts.
Walz addressed the fraud cases at a press conference last week, saying the misconduct “undermines trust in government” and weakens programs that are “absolutely critical in improving quality of life.”
“If you’re committing fraud, no matter where you come from, what you look like, what you believe, you are going to go to jail,” Walz said.
The governor was also pressed about the situation on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, when host Kristen Welker asked whether he accepts responsibility for failing to stop fraud in his state.
“Well, certainly, I take responsibility for putting people in jail,” Walz replied.
“I will note, it’s not just Somalis,” he continued. “Minnesota is a generous state. Minnesota is a prosperous state, a well-run state. We’re AAA-bond rated. But that attracts criminals. Those people are going to jail. We’re doing everything we can. But to demonize an entire community on the actions of a few, it’s lazy.”
Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the controversy in a Nov. 21 post on Truth Social, saying he would move to terminate temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota, citing what he called “fraudulent money laundering activity.”
“Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!” he wrote.
