Minnesota’s governor and attorney general on Wednesday defended their efforts to combat fraud, telling a U.S. House committee that their efforts were hampered by President Donald Trump’s decisions. Immigration campaign In the country.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee charged Governor Tim Walz and Prosecutor Keith Ellison They are dragging their feet on combating fraud in government programs, saying they are putting policy ahead of rooting out abuses rather than pausing payments.
“You have not been good stewards of taxpayer money,” said Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee chairman. “The Democratic position is to keep the money flowing. American taxpayers have had enough.”
Walz said he wants to work with the federal government to help with fraud investigations, however Migration boom It was making it more difficult.
“The people of Minnesota have been targeted for political retaliation on an unparalleled scale,” Walz said. He added: “We will prosecute, as we did, everyone involved in the fraud, but we cannot do it alone.”
Walz and Ellison defended their anti-fraud efforts, while also trying to shift the focus of the hearing to the case Increased 3,000 federal agents In Minnesota, which began in December. The Trump administration cited fraud as one of the justifications for its executive actions. Minister of Homeland Security Kristi Noem Tuesday witnessed that About 650 investigators remain in Minnesota as part of a broader fraud investigation.
“Operation Metro Surge has done nothing to address fraud in our state,” Ellison said. “It has hurt our economy, harmed our people, and dealt a devastating blow to Minnesota’s fraud enforcement.”
Ellison pointed out Lawyers resignation series in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, leaving those who remain “mired in immigration petitions” rather than prosecuting fraud. The US Attorney for Minnesota appeared on Tuesday Before the judge For a hearing regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement violations and failure to return personal property to detainees.
Ellison said his office “punched above our weight” in winning 300 Medicaid fraud convictions and recovering more than $80 million for taxpayers.
Republican Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana called on Ellison to resign, accusing him of not leading investigations into criminal fraud activity.
Last week, Vice President J.D. Vance said Trump Management “will be temporarily suspended” $243 million in Medicaid funding for Minnesota Due to fraud concernsThis was in the context of what he described as aggression Crackdown on misuse of public funds. Minnesota Lawsuit filed Monday to stop withholding funds, warning that it may have to cut health care for low-income families if funds are withheld.
Comer accused Walz on Wednesday of not stopping Medicaid payments despite knowing about the fraud because he “didn’t want to rock the boat.”
Comer and other Republicans accused Walz of lying when he first found out about the fraud A $250 million scheme known as “Feeding Our Future.” And procrastination in taking action to protect the Somali-American community. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio asked Walz if he knew how many people had been charged Somali Americans.
“Their ethnicity doesn’t worry me,” Walz said.
Somali Americans make up 82 of the 92 defendants charged so far in the “Feeding Our Future” case, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, as part of an effort to focus the hearing on the immigration crackdown, uploaded photos of children detained by federal officers and a photo of the bloodstained car seat of Rene is good Who was killed by an officer. Federal officers also killed another Minnesota resident, Alex Prettywhich was filming enforcement operations.
“This violence does not make us safer,” Garcia said. “It does not address fraud, waste and abuse.”