A congressman from Texas crushed a Democratic witness in congressional testimony about the effect of large-scale Somali immigration on Minnesota.
Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas questioned former Justice Dept. prosecutor Brendan Ballou during Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on fraud in Minnesota. Ballou was a witness for Democrats on the committee.
‘It doesn’t sound like something that makes our country stronger to me, and I think most Americans would agree with me on that.’
“Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?” asked Gill.
“Certainly stronger,” Ballou responded.
“Certainly stronger,” Gill repeated. “Do you know what percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps?”
“No,” Ballou replied.
“Fifty-four percent. Do you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households?” Gill asked.
Ballou disputed the term “native households,” which led to Gill interrupting to say that only 7% of non-Somali Minnesotan households were on food stamps.
“What percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on Medicaid?” Gill asked.
“I don’t know,” Ballou said.
Gill told him the figure was 73% and compared it to the number of non-Somalis on Medicaid.
“The number is 18%. That’s quite an astounding difference, I think we would agree,” Gill said.
Gill went on to say that 81% of Somali-headed households were on welfare in general, a figure Ballou did not know.
“Let me just ask you, after 10 years of being in the United States, what percentage of Somali-immigrant households continue to be on welfare?” Gill asked.
“I don’t know,” Ballou said.
“The number is 78%,” he replied.
Gill said that about half of working-age Somalis who have been in the U.S. for 10 years or more speak English “very well.”
“That seems pretty low, doesn’t it?” Gill asked rhetorically. “It doesn’t sound like something that makes our country stronger to me, and I think most Americans would agree with me on that.”
Video of the exchange was posted to social media by the Oversight Committee.
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Ballou asserted in his testimony when questioned by Democrats that the incidents of Somali fraud were low compared to their population in Minnesota. While 82 Somalis have been indicted thus far, Ballou said that this represents about 0.07% of the 108,000 estimated Somalis in Minnesota.
“When you compare that to one-third of all Americans [who] have a criminal record, and I think it’s 40% approximately of white men under the age of 23 have been arrested, I don’t think the statistics really compare,” Ballou said.
Gill also posted the video of the interaction to his social media timeline.
“This Democrat witness claims large-scale Somali immigration makes Minnesota stronger. The numbers tell a different story,” he wrote.
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