Somalia

Since the news of Minnesota’s sprawling Somali-linked fraud cases went national, debate over immigrant crime has flared once again. President Trump has dispatched federal agents to the Twin Cities to crack down on illegal immigrants. But Trump is overreacting, critics contend: the Somali immigrant population, they claim, does not have particularly high crime rates.

Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute, for instance, set off considerable debate on X by posting a chart showing that Somali-born immigrants have, if anything, slightly lower incarceration rates than native-born Americans. Among those aged 18 to 54 included in the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS), 1,170 of every 100,000 people born in Somalia were incarcerated, versus 1,221 for the native-born.

At Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon, tens of thousands of people crowded around a massive Douglas fir tree decked with lights. Waiting for the carnage to begin was Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali ‘child’ refugee, who was dreaming of killing them all.

In 2010, Mohamud had urged a friend of his traveling to Mecca to pray “that I will be a martyr in the highest chambers of paradise.” He planned to attack Americans “in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays.” And Christmas was the perfect time of the year to do it.

Nick Shirley’s video tour of 10 Somali daycare sites in the Twin Cities has drawn attention yet again to the massive public programs fraud committed by an almost exclusive cast of Somali Minnesotans. Shirley may have made some mistakes, but he seems to be on to something.

Shirley’s video raises an alarm about the administration of the Child Care Assistance Program by Minnesota’s Department of Human Services. In 2019, a devastating report by Minnesota’s nonpartisan Office of Legislative Auditor investigated a whistleblower’s claim that the program was riddled with fraud to the tune of $100 million. Legislative Auditor James Nobles limited his findings of fraud to amounts established in criminal convictions—$5 to $6 million at the time. However, Nobles called out the program for lax oversight and laughably inadequate controls. As he stated in a column last week, the department’s permissive approach “made it easy for fraudsters to steal.”

Baby Trump Visits Minnesota & The Somalian Daycares! Ft. Ilhan Omar and Tim Walz 😭

He EXPOSES the FRAUD! 😎@BabyNetworkNews pic.twitter.com/jPl8fXI9io

— Baby News Network (@BabyNetworkNews) January 4, 2026

I suspect that Somalis around the country – especially, but not exclusively, in Minneapolis – wish about now that they had spent more time studying the wit and wisdom of Gertrude Stein.

Stein, had she lived in our own day, might well have become commissioner of New York City’s Fire Department. She had the one qualification that Zohran Mamdani seems to deem essential to the post.

Sadly, that was not to be. But there is no denying that, on certain matters, Stein was a font of practical wisdom that remains as pertinent today as it was when she was pontificating in Paris a century ago. It is important, Stein warned those aspiring to be part of the avant garde, “to know how far to go when going too far.” This is true of all the arts. It is just as true of fraud as of painting, poetry, dance or music.

A Somali-run day care in Minneapolis is claiming somebody broke in and stole “important documents” as the national spotlight shines on the unfolding multibillion-dollar fraud scandal involving Minnesota human services.

Nasrulah Mohamed, manager of Nakomis Day Care Center, told reporters that a suspect entered through the kitchen at the rear of the facility, damaging a wall and breaking into the building’s office, sometime on Tuesday.

He said the alleged prowler stole “important documentation” including children’s enrollment information, employee documentation and checkbooks.

Talk about hard luck!