MINNEAPOLIS — Federal law enforcement officers have conducted raids on more than 20 businesses in Minneapolis, many with ties to the Somali immigrant community, as part of an investigation into misuse of federal funds, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
Officers executed 22 federal search warrants at businesses in the city during the operation, which began early Tuesday, according to a Justice Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the ongoing investigation. The official said it was not an immigration enforcement operation.
“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” a spokesman for the Justice Department said in a statement.
A spokesman for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said the office was involved in executing five of the search warrants at autism support centers that receive Medicaid funding. Federal officials searched day cares, businesses and some residences, said another person familiar with the probe who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.
Mahamed Cali, the owner of a building where a day care center was raided, said federal agents arrived Tuesday morning with a warrant, spoke to the owner of the Metro Learning Center and left with a box of files. He said about 40 businesses operated out of the building. Most of those businesses closed for the day after the searches, he said.
“The last four or five months have been very tough times,” Cali said. “Especially when they single out the Somali community.”
Allegations that more than a dozen Minnesota safety net programs — including child care, nutrition support and housing services — misused federal funds have roiled the city in recent months, leading the Trump administration to launch Operation Metro Surge late last year. The crackdown resulted in widespread protests, the deaths of two protesters and more than 4,000 arrests.
Jess Olstad, a spokesman for the city of Minneapolis, said that neither the city nor its police department had been asked to assist on the raids.
“We understand that any federal actions in our neighborhoods may spark fear among residents, and we will continue to provide city resources to help the community in the aftermath of Operation Metro Surge,” she said in a statement.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said Tuesday in a post on X that the raids happened because state agencies “caught irregular behavior and reported it,” adding that is “how the system is supposed to work.” Walz announced in January that he would not seek a third term as members of his own party expressed concerns that his handling of the fraud cases could affect his reelection chances.
Because many of the businesses accused of fraud have associations with the Somali community, President Donald Trump and other conservatives have used the allegations as a way to criticize the immigrant group, prompting Somali leaders to say they are being unfairly singled out. In a Cabinet meeting last year, Trump said he doesn’t want Somali immigrants in the country and referred to them as “garbage.”
In March, the White House established a task force to eliminate fraud nationwide, citing the “staggering fraud and waste in Minnesota” — estimated by the administration at $9 billion — as a case in point. Trump appointed Vice President JD Vance as “the fraud czar” to oversee the task force.
Vance said in a post on X that the Justice Department “will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding.”
Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) released a statement Tuesday that thanked the federal government for “taking action against Somali fraudsters.”
“President Trump and his administration have made it crystal clear — our country will not tolerate waste, fraud, and abuse, and we are not going to allow people to take advantage of Americans’ generosity,” Emmer said.
Perry Stein in Washington contributed to this report. Regan reported from Minneapolis, Gowen from Lawrence, Kansas, and Roebuck from Washington.
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