I generally agree with Bill Glahn’s observation in “The dog that never barked” (the adjacent post): “Not a single person in authority, not any elected official, no one in law enforcement, the judiciary, the state bureaucracy, the media, or elsewhere have linked these fraud scandals [i.e., Feeding Our Future, housing consultants, autism clinics, etc.] to any ethnic group or groups.”
A discreet silence obtains in the case of the frauds that have proved endemic to Minnesota’s Somali community. The thumbnail image of Guhaad Hashi — past Ilhan Omar enforcer and convicted Feeding Our Future defendant — has adorned my many posts on Omar and the frauds perpetrated by members of Minnesota’s Somali community with his admonition to shush. Intended for his fellow Somali Minnesotans, the admonition has been followed by others that Bill lists as well.
However, I think it would be fair to say that I have barked about these frauds in a manner that belies Bill’s point as I understand it. I wrote last month in “The fraud this time,” for example (emphasis in original):
I have an idea to lend [then Acting United States Attorney Joe] Thompson a hand. Those in positions of authority to speak to the “Minnesota men” of the Somali community need to get a message out. It’s not okay to steal from the Man. Whether you think it’s right or wrong, doing so may result in separation from your family and otherwise inconvenience you for an extended period of time.
That is a message that should be delivered face to face to “Minnesota men” and their religious leaders by the governor, the attorney general, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the legislators representing the communities where the “Minnesota men” reside. I would add Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar to the list, but she is illustrative of the cultural observation I am venturing here.
Please read the whole thing here. See also my New York Post column here explicitly focusing on the phenomenon of Somali fraud. I’m barking as loud as I can.
JOHN adds: Let’s not be obscure here. It is an obvious fact that the fraudsters who have stolen billions of dollars from taxpayers in Minnesota are overwhelmingly Somali. Both Scott’s reporting here and Bill Glahn’s reporting at AmericanExperiment.org have reflected that reality. In fraud after fraud, the criminal defendants are Somali immigrants or their offspring.
That does not mean, of course, that all, or most, Somalis are criminals. That is not the case. But it does mean that there is a huge problem within the Somali community, one that has not been adequately addressed either by the purported leaders of that community or by Minnesota politicians. (Ilhan Omar falls into both categories, and has been useless on this issue.)
I know Fartun Weli, whose op-ed was the occasion for Bill Glahn’s post, and think well of her. I don’t blame her for trying to defend the good name of her immigrant community. But the fact is that the Somali community has been a hotbed of criminal fraud. If it were not, her op-ed would have been unnecessary.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson has done an admirable job of prosecuting the many criminals who have stolen money from taxpayers in Minnesota. But at the end of the day, criminal prosecution can never keep up with fraud, if stealing from taxpayers is tolerated by the citizenry. So far, I think it is fair to say that theft of taxpayer dollars has been tolerated by most Somali immigrants and by most Minnesota politicians.
Will that change? I guess we will find out in the 2026 elections.
