{"id":16273,"date":"2026-01-12T22:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=16273"},"modified":"2026-01-12T22:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:06:08","slug":"rep-exposes-the-truth-about-minnesotas-somali-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=16273","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Exposes the Truth about Minnesota’s Somali Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reading Time:<\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, grilled witnesses during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday about the staggering statistics of welfare among the Somali community in Minnesota.\n<\/p>\n

Post a prayer for your state!<\/h4>\n

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During the hearing that featured several Minnesota state lawmakers and addressed the allegations of widespread social services fraud in the state, Gill cited government statistics as he issued rapid-fire questions to Democrat witness Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?\u201d he asked, to which Ballou replied, \u201cCertainly stronger.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

NEW: Rep. Brandon Gill shuts down witness Brendan Ballou with fact after fact after he claimed Somalis are \u201cstrengthening\u201d Minnesota.\n<\/p>\n

Gill: \u201cDoes large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Ballou: \u201cCertainly stronger.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Gill: \u201cDo you know what percentage\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/YdcbyMBh6R<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\u2014 Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Gill went on to interrogate Ballou regarding what percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps, a statistic Ballou did not know, but which Gill noted\u00a0is 54%.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households?\u201d Gill asked, before quickly noting it\u2019s only 7%.\n<\/p>\n

Ballou was also unaware what percentage of Somali households in Minnesota are on Medicaid, but Gill told him it\u2019s 73%, which he contrasted with 18% of non-Somali households.\n<\/p>\n

Regarding welfare, Gill said, 81% of Somali immigrant households in Minnesota are receiving it, and that 78% of them remain on welfare even after 10 years. Only about half of working-age Somali immigrants who have been in the U.S. for a decade or more \u201cspeak English very well,\u201d Gill also noted.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>Doesn\u2019t sound like something that makes our country stronger to me. And I think most Americans would agree with me on that,\u201d Gill said.\n<\/p>\n

When Ballou attempted to explain that many of the Somali community in Minnesota were born in the U.S., Gill said, \u201cNevertheless, the welfare usage is astoundingly different.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Gill\u2019s line of questioning drew an accusation of xenophobia from Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAsking their opinion, \u2018What is your opinion of Somalians?\u2019 We might as well say, \u2018What is your opinion of Jews? What is your opinion of black people? What is your opinion of Latinos?’\u201d Mfume said.\n<\/p>\n

During another point in the hearing, Gill asked Minnesota state Rep. Walter Hudson, a Republican, if the Somali population is \u201can important demographic for Democrats to win over politically.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cUnquestionably,\u201d Hudson said, who also agreed with Gill\u2019s suggestion that turning a blind eye to fraud in Minnesota\u2019s Somali community came with \u201ca political incentive\u201d for the state\u2019s Democratic leaders.\n<\/p>\n

Fraud in Minnesota wasn\u2019t an accident.\n<\/p>\n

It overwhelmingly benefited Democrats, and the Walz administration covered it up. pic.twitter.com\/I8V0sT9Yif<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\u2014 Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) January 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Minnesota and Minneapolis have been front-and-center in the national spotlight in recent weeks amid allegations of widespread fraud among its childcare centers, many of which are run by the Somali immigrant community.\n<\/p>\n

The story prompted special attention last month after independent journalist Nick Shirley went viral for a video in which he visited licensed daycare centers in the Minneapolis area that appeared vacant despite receiving millions in taxpayer funds \u2014 such as $1.9 million to \u201cQuality Learing [sic] Center,\u201d which has since\u00a0closed.\n<\/p>\n

During a\u00a0press briefing\u00a0at the White House on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt assured that the Trump administration is taking an \u201call-hands-on-deck\u201d approach to tackle allegations of fraud in Minnesota and other states, and that prosecutors have already issued over 1,700 subpoenas.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to Minnesota, the fraud that we have seen, the wide scale of fraud, is really remarkable. It\u2019s egregious,\u201d she said, adding that the effort to combat fraud spans multiple departments of the federal government.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cRest assured, this is an all-hands-on-deck effort from the entire administration to get to the bottom of this and to ensure that the ripping off of taxpayers in the state of Minnesota \u2014 and it won\u2019t just be Minnesota, it will be any state across this country where fraud has taken place, and we are protecting law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice\u00a0has charged\u00a098 defendants in Minnesota fraud-related cases, 85 of whom are of Somali descent and 64 of whom have been convicted.\n<\/p>\n

Tensions in Minneapolis boiled over Wednesday after Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by an ICE agent after she allegedly attempted to run him over with her vehicle after obstructing traffic.\n<\/p>\n

Federal authorities have claimed that the shooting was self-defense, while state officials have alleged that the unarmed Good was unjustly killed by the agent as she was trying to flee.\n<\/p>\n

How are you praying about the fraud and the Somali community in Minnesota? Share your prayers and scriptures below.<\/h4>\n

This article was originally published at The Christian Post. Photo Credit: Noah3500 \u2013 Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=171076289.<\/em>
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