‘Only Doing It For PR Purposes’: Ilhan Omar Says ‘No Justification’ For Trump Admin’s Somali Fraud Crackdown

CBS News’ Margaret Brennan pressed Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar on Sunday over massive welfare fraud in the state, after Omar claimed there was “no justification” for the federal response to the scandal.

Federal officials estimated in December that the amount of suspected fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid program had reached over $9 billion, as multiple federal agencies are investigating the scandal and the Trump administration is pausing payments to the state pending audits of the welfare programs. The vast majority of people charged in connection to the scandal thus far have been of Somali descent. (RELATED: Tim Walz’s Daughter Thinks Journalist Had ‘Ethical’ Duty To Not Blow Lid Off Somali Scammers)

“It is just creating fear. What they are doing is creating confusion, chaos, trying to intimidate people from being able to exercise their regular normal activities that they would. There is no justification in any of the things that they say,” Omar told Brennan on “Face the Nation” Sunday. “The 87 people that you’ve described as being investigated, many of them adjudicated, all happened under the Biden Administration. There is no justification for the search. We know that ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has the ability to conduct raids. There is no reason to have over 2,000 people coming into our city and creating the level of terror that they have created.”

WATCH:

Among the illegal immigrants arrested during immigration enforcement operations carried out by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Minneapolis area were multiple sex offenders, people convicted on drug charges and people convicted of assault, according to a Thursday release by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“The federal government and the state have been working peacefully together and have brought justice to these 87 people that you’ve described. None of the search that they have conducted has produced any sort of criminal activity. They haven’t been able to charge anyone as of yet,” Omar claimed.

“Well, the administration had also announced they’re going to cut food stamps to Minnesota because some of the money had been embezzled here,” Brennan responded.

“It is being litigated and it is unconstitutional for them to do so,” Omar claimed.

“There is no reason for them to use this level of rhetoric. There is no reason for them to fully stop … funding these programs,” the Democrat continued. “The only reason they are doing that is for PR [public relations] purposes and it is harming our state, it is harming my constituents and it is creating the kind of chaos and confusion that no one needs in this moment.” (RELATED: Hugh Hewitt Says Resistance To Immigration Enforcement Won’t End Well For Blue States)

Independent journalist Nick Shirley released a 42-minute video showing him visiting various day care centers  throughout the Minneapolis area, one of which misspelled the word “Learning” on a banner, prompting a media firestorm. Omar dismissed Shirley’s reporting, claiming he visited the centers when they were not open.

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