Fact Check: Is Trump’s claim during SOTU speech that Somalis in Minnesota stole $19 billion true?
WASHINGTON, DC: During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Donald Trump spoke about the Minnesota Somali fraud, claiming that members of the Somali community in the state stole billions from the American taxpayers' money. The claim has prompted outrage and speculation among many. Let us fact-check the president’s claim.
Claim: Somali community stole $19 billion, according to Donald Trump
On Tuesday night, President Trump, during his State of the Union address, made mention of Minnesota to draw attention to his plan to combat financial fraud within government programs.
Vice President JD Vance will lead the 'war on fraud,' Trump said in his speech, while touting his administration’s targeting of alleged Medicaid fraud in Democratic-led states such as Minnesota.
“When it comes to the corruption that is plundering, it really is plundering, America, there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer,” the president told his primetime national audience.
“We have all the information, and in actuality, the number is much higher than that.”
Fact Check: Donald Trump's claim is unsupported by evidence
The president's $19 billion estimate is substantially higher than the Department of Justice's estimates of $250 million and is unsupported by any evidence.
Former federal prosecutor Joe Thompson said in December that half or more of the $18 billion in federal funds billed by Medicare services in Minnesota might be fraudulent.
Thompson, who resigned in January amid tension with the Trump administration over immigration enforcement in the state, called the $9 billion figure, half of $18 billion, an early estimate rather than a firm number.
While most of those charged or convicted are Somalis, the alleged leader of the fraud scheme is a white woman named Aimee Bock, who is currently awaiting sentencing.
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib confront Trump's Somali community remark
A confrontation started during the President's Tuesday address, when Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) openly objected to his remarks about Minnesota, specifically challenging his description of the state's Somali community as "pirates."
Additionally, they accused the President of enabling the deaths of United States citizens through his administration's intensified immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
Trump retorted that such behavior "can only damage the United States of America" and that the lawmakers "can do nothing to help it."
"We should send them back from where they came — as fast as possible," the President wrote, echoing language he previously used to criticize progressive congresswomen during his first term.
