President Donald Trump has said he will "get to the bottom" of alleged fraud in Minnesota.
Speaking during a New Year's Eve party in his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said he had been watching Minnesota Republican Rep. Tom Emmer speak on the television about the alleged cases that have hit the state and said they would "get that money back."
It comes as investigations into suspected fraud in the state continue, causing a political headache for its Democratic Governor Tim Walz.
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email to comment on this story outside of normal business hours.
Merrick Garland's Department of Justice first uncovered welfare fraud in Minnesota in 2022, with the Feeding Our Future scam that is estimated to have cost taxpayers $250 million. So far 57 defendants have been convicted, and 78 charged, according to The Associated Press (AP).
Since then, further instances of alleged fraud have emerged. Speaking in mid-December, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said that $9 billion or more in federal funds allocated to 14 state-run programs since 2018 may have been stolen.
Meanwhile, the cases are politically and culturally loaded as 82 of the 92 defendants charged so far are Somali Americans, according to AP citing the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota. Some members of the community have warned that they have been stigmatized as a result of the ongoing cases.
Trump said during his address that Emmer "was talking about the Somalian population and not very nicely."
It is unclear what he was referencing but Emmer said on X on Sunday that he is calling for "the denaturalization and deportation of every Somali engaged in fraud in Minnesota."
Trump added: "We're going to take back our country, can you imagine? They stole $18 billion. That's just what we're learning about. That's peanuts. California is worse. Illinois is worse. Sadly, New York is worse."
It is unclear what the $18 billion figure was based on and investigations into fraud are ongoing in the state. Thompson said in December that some half of $18 billion in federal funds may have been stolen.
"We're going to get to the bottom of all of those, a giant scam, other than that we're going to have a great new year," Trump continued.
He concluded: "We're going to get that money back its all coming back."
Governor Tim Walz's office said in a previous statement to Newsweek: "The Governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and asked the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight -- including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed. He has hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions."
Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, the state's most prominent Somali American official, told CBS News: "This also has an impact on Somalis, because we are also taxpayers in Minnesota...We also could have benefited from the program and the money that was stolen."
Investigations into alleged fraud continue. FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday that the agency had deployed personnel and resources to Minnesota "to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs."