Diversity Is A Strength: Somali Terrorists Supported By Welfare Fraud

From the New York Post: "Somali terror group al-Shabab ‘taking a cut’ of millions in stolen Minnesota taxpayer money from welfare fraud scheme: report." The article relates:

    Millions of dollars in taxpayer money stolen as part of a series of massive Minnesota welfare fraud schemes may have been funneled to Somalia-based terror group al-Shabab, according to a report. 

    The radical Islamic terror group, which is a longstanding ally of al Qaeda and considered a threat to US interests, has likely been the beneficiary of money stolen in a spate of scams and sent to Somalia by the criminals defrauding the North Star State, City Journal reported Wednesday, citing federal counterterrorism sources. 

    “This is a third-rail conversation, but the largest funder of al-Shabab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” a source who worked on a federal investigation into Minnesotans attempting to join overseas terror groups, told the outlet. 

The article goes on to note that Minnesota has been plagued by widespread welfare fraud over the past several years, including "the Feeding Our Future scheme, for which prosecutors have racked up 56 criminal convictions in what they allege was a plot to steal $300 million from a federally funded program meant to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic." 

    Who could be behind this widespread and rampant fraud? "Former fraud investigator Kayesh Magan, a Somali-American who had worked in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, noted in an op-ed last year that it is 'uncomfortable and true' that 'nearly all of the defendants' in several Minnesota fraud cases, including Feeding Our Future, 'are from my community. The Somali community.'" And:

“Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities, in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits al-Shabab in some way,” a former member of the Minneapolis JTTF said. “For every dollar that is transferred from the Twin Cities back to Somalia, al-Shabab is … taking a cut of it.” 

Refugees welcome.

More:

• "How Minnesota’s Welfare Funds Ended Up in the Hands of a Terror Group"--City Journal.  
• "Bombshell DHS sweep in Minneapolis-St. Paul finds 50% of immigrants had committed immigration fraud"--New York Post.  The article observes: "Officials didn’t point to a specific group, but the Twin Cities has seen a massive uptick in Somali refugees and immigrants in recent years — with more than 82,000 from the East African country living in Minnesota."
• "The Kenyan, Somali Ring At the Center Of America’s Largest Pandemic Fraud"--Kenyan Wall Street. 
• "Somali activist alleges years of widespread voter fraud in Minnesota"--WJLA.