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In late November, IFA covered a massive scandal in Minnesota: bad actors, many from the state’s Somali community, had stolen billions from taxpayers through a complex network of fraud. Now, however, it’s been revealed that Representative Ilhan Omar, a far-left lawmaker from the state, is linked to that fraud.
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From Fox News:
Members of the inner circle of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., personally profited from the $1 billion welfare fraud scandal in her district that has placed her Somali constituency under a White House microscope.
Omar held events at one of the restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners and had a staffer who was also convicted, the New York Post reported.
Omar also introduced the legislation that led to $250 million being defrauded from federal child-nutrition programs in COVID-19 aid, according to the newspaper.
Fox notes that, in 2020, $250 million in state funds was distributed to give meals to schoolchildren, only to then be fraudulently pocketed by Salim Ahmed Said. In 2018, Representative Omar held a victory party at Safari Restaurant, a restaurant owned by the very same Said.
The ties go deeper. The money Said fleeced came from the 2020 MEALS Act, legislation that was introduced by Representative Omar. Additionally, Fox notes that much of the funding was funneled through the infamous nonprofit Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit that Representative Omar helped promote.
Representative Omar is not tied directly to the fraud. In a statement on how her state became such a hotbed for financial misconduct, the Representative said, “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.”
On some level, Representative Omar seems to agree with the Trump administration, which pinned the fraud on Minnesota officials for a lack of oversight. The fraud in Minnesota seems to be yet another example of money spent recklessly and without oversight during the pandemic.
The Trump administration and Republicans are currently investigating both Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the state’s Somali community over potential culpability in the massive amounts of fraud. As these investigations continue and the truth continues to come out, let’s pray fraud like this would never happen again!
How are you praying about Representative Omar and the fraud in Minnesota? Share your prayers and scriptures below.
(Excerpt from Fox News. Photo Credit: © European Union, 1998 – 2025, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=163831751)
