Cost Explosion: HSS billing has surged to nearly $250 million since the program started in 2020. Just five years ago, the program cost $2.6 million. By 2024, costs are projected to be around 

 
$122 million annually—a staggering increase that suggests widespread exploitation.

Fraud Allegations: Investigations have uncovered allegations of fraud, forged signatures, and fraudulent billing to Medicaid for services that were never rendered. Victims, such as Steven Smith, have reported finding out that human services companies claimed to have helped them find housing and provided thousands of dollars in services, despite the victims never meeting the providers.

 

2. The Autism Claim Fraud

A second, more alarming scheme involves the state’s federally funded autism program.

Recruitment for Fraud: Several individuals, allegedly members of the Somali community, are accused of recruiting families and convincing them to get their children diagnosed as autistic, regardless of the child’s actual condition.

 

Financial Surge: As a result, autism claims to Medicaid surged, jumping from $3 million in 2018 to over $400 million by 2023. The number of autism providers in the state jumped from 41 to 328 in just five years, indicating a rapid influx of fraudulent operations designed to exploit the system.

 

III. Funding Terror: The Al-Shabaab Connection

The most explosive finding comes from reports by the City Journal, which connects the Minnesota fraud rings to international terrorism.

The reports allege that the Somali fraud rings are sending a massive amount of money back to Somalia through various means, including 

 
Hala transfers. This practice leverages the significant amount of remittances sent abroad:

Somalia Remittances: Remittances from abroad total $1.7 billion, which is more than the entire budget of the Somali government.

 

Terror Link: Most alarmingly, the money funneled through money traders and Hala transfers is alleged to end up in the hands of the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic terror group Al-Shabaab.

The conclusion drawn by critics is stark: 

 
Minnesota taxpayers are unknowingly funneling money through fraudulent autism and welfare claims back to Somalia, where that money lands in the accounts of Al-Shabaab.
 This direct link between state welfare programs and terrorism funding is cited as the primary national security justification for Trump’s TPS termination.
 

IV. The Political Accountability Crisis

The crisis has led to calls for the immediate resignation of Minnesota’s Governor, 

Tim Walz. Taxpayers and critics argue that Walz has “absolutely failed this state on almost every single level” by allowing this fraud to proliferate unchecked.
 

Fiscal Failure: Critics point to a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce report showing the state is “failing on every single economic measure” between 2019 and 2024.

Moral Failure: The failure to prevent the fraud, which now links state funds to terrorism, is considered a profound moral and governmental collapse. The sentiment among some residents, even Democrats, is that Walz should step down immediately for “failing the people of Minnesota.”

The controversy also directly implicates Ilhan Omar, whose political base is the community under scrutiny. While there is no direct evidence linking Omar to the fraud, the actions of a concentrated group of her voters—accused of massive federal theft and funneling money to a known terrorist group—significantly damages her standing and lends weight to the claims that she is more loyal to Somalia than to the United States.

The current situation is defined by a refusal among local leaders to address the fraud, driven, critics argue, by a fear of being “called racist” for pointing out the criminal activity. Trump’s intervention, regardless of its political motivation, forces the issue of accountability that local authorities allegedly ignored for too long.

The immediate consequence of the TPS termination is a wave of deportations that will reshape the demographics and political landscape of Omar’s district, signaling a massive legal and political escalation of the Minnesota Meltdown.