Immigration fraud faces congressional scrutiny following massive Somali scams
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Senate Republicans set their sights on immigration fraud at a judiciary hearing on Tuesday, assembling witnesses who highlighted widespread abuse of immigrant-tied government benefits in the midst of Minnesota’s massive Somali fraud scandal.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, noted during opening remarks that Somali scammers overwhelmingly made up most of the fraudsters who were federally indicted in Minnesota over the past few years.
According to Cornyn, out of the 98 federal Minnesota fraud cases filed so far, 85 defendants are of Somali descent.
HOW MINNESOTA’S SOMALI FRAUD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAS STOLEN MILLIONS FROM MEDICAID
“Much of the fraud is committed by aliens, many of them criminal aliens,” Cornyn continued.
The senator cited a 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which calculated that Medicaid lost approximately $8 billion in funding a year due to fraud attributable to illegal aliens.
“A quick internet search will reveal numerous instances of foreign nationals who’ve been convicted for fraud, everything from wire fraud, manufacturing and selling counterfeit documents, fraudulently obtaining mass numbers of H-2B visas, and much more,” Cornyn said.
Several of the GOP’s invited guests focused on Somali fraudsters, in particular, targeting and subsequently tapping immigration benefits with little government oversight.
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s border security and immigration center, said that, as a former consular officer who was tasked with adjudicating visa applications, he encountered rampant visa fraud in high-corruption countries like Somalia.
Hankinson said that, in his experience, the amount of visa fraud in a given country tended to track with the country’s general level of corruption.
“Somalia is one of the most corrupt countries on Earth. Not surprisingly, Somalis commit fraud at high rates when applying for U.S. visas,” Hankinson told the subcommittee. “They continue to commit immigration fraud at high rates once in the U.S. and when seeking additional benefits, such as bringing relatives to the United States or becoming permanent residents and citizens.”
In 2012, a U.S. State Department inspection of Somalia’s conditions found that its “chronic instability has made it a haven for transnational terrorism, piracy, and a threat to stability in the region.” Not much has improved over the years. In …
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Senate Republicans set their sights on immigration fraud at a judiciary hearing on Tuesday, assembling witnesses who highlighted widespread abuse of immigrant-tied government benefits in the midst of Minnesota’s massive Somali fraud scandal.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, noted during opening remarks that Somali scammers overwhelmingly made up most of the fraudsters who were federally indicted in Minnesota over the past few years.
According to Cornyn, out of the 98 federal Minnesota fraud cases filed so far, 85 defendants are of Somali descent.
HOW MINNESOTA’S SOMALI FRAUD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAS STOLEN MILLIONS FROM MEDICAID
“Much of the fraud is committed by aliens, many of them criminal aliens,” Cornyn continued.
The senator cited a 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which calculated that Medicaid lost approximately $8 billion in funding a year due to fraud attributable to illegal aliens.
“A quick internet search will reveal numerous instances of foreign nationals who’ve been convicted for fraud, everything from wire fraud, manufacturing and selling counterfeit documents, fraudulently obtaining mass numbers of H-2B visas, and much more,” Cornyn said.
Several of the GOP’s invited guests focused on Somali fraudsters, in particular, targeting and subsequently tapping immigration benefits with little government oversight.
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s border security and immigration center, said that, as a former consular officer who was tasked with adjudicating visa applications, he encountered rampant visa fraud in high-corruption countries like Somalia.
Hankinson said that, in his experience, the amount of visa fraud in a given country tended to track with the country’s general level of corruption.
“Somalia is one of the most corrupt countries on Earth. Not surprisingly, Somalis commit fraud at high rates when applying for U.S. visas,” Hankinson told the subcommittee. “They continue to commit immigration fraud at high rates once in the U.S. and when seeking additional benefits, such as bringing relatives to the United States or becoming permanent residents and citizens.”
In 2012, a U.S. State Department inspection of Somalia’s conditions found that its “chronic instability has made it a haven for transnational terrorism, piracy, and a threat to stability in the region.” Not much has improved over the years. In …
Immigration fraud faces congressional scrutiny following massive Somali scams
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Senate Republicans set their sights on immigration fraud at a judiciary hearing on Tuesday, assembling witnesses who highlighted widespread abuse of immigrant-tied government benefits in the midst of Minnesota’s massive Somali fraud scandal.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, noted during opening remarks that Somali scammers overwhelmingly made up most of the fraudsters who were federally indicted in Minnesota over the past few years.
According to Cornyn, out of the 98 federal Minnesota fraud cases filed so far, 85 defendants are of Somali descent.
HOW MINNESOTA’S SOMALI FRAUD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAS STOLEN MILLIONS FROM MEDICAID
“Much of the fraud is committed by aliens, many of them criminal aliens,” Cornyn continued.
The senator cited a 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which calculated that Medicaid lost approximately $8 billion in funding a year due to fraud attributable to illegal aliens.
“A quick internet search will reveal numerous instances of foreign nationals who’ve been convicted for fraud, everything from wire fraud, manufacturing and selling counterfeit documents, fraudulently obtaining mass numbers of H-2B visas, and much more,” Cornyn said.
Several of the GOP’s invited guests focused on Somali fraudsters, in particular, targeting and subsequently tapping immigration benefits with little government oversight.
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s border security and immigration center, said that, as a former consular officer who was tasked with adjudicating visa applications, he encountered rampant visa fraud in high-corruption countries like Somalia.
Hankinson said that, in his experience, the amount of visa fraud in a given country tended to track with the country’s general level of corruption.
“Somalia is one of the most corrupt countries on Earth. Not surprisingly, Somalis commit fraud at high rates when applying for U.S. visas,” Hankinson told the subcommittee. “They continue to commit immigration fraud at high rates once in the U.S. and when seeking additional benefits, such as bringing relatives to the United States or becoming permanent residents and citizens.”
In 2012, a U.S. State Department inspection of Somalia’s conditions found that its “chronic instability has made it a haven for transnational terrorism, piracy, and a threat to stability in the region.” Not much has improved over the years. In …
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