DHS and USCIS launch Operation PARRIS to re‑vet Minnesota refugees for fraud
DHS and USCIS have launched Operation PARRIS (Post‑Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening), begun in mid‑December to reexamine roughly 5,600 refugees in Minnesota from 39 “countries of concern” named in Trump travel‑ban proclamations by conducting onsite reinterviews, background checks and document verification to determine whether refugee status should be maintained, revoked, or referred to ICE. The operation is tied to a sprawling Minnesota fraud probe into daycare, Medicaid and social‑services billing that federal officials say has produced dozens of criminal charges and convictions; DHS is also reviewing naturalization cases involving migrants from 19 countries for possible denaturalization, and the DOJ and some lawmakers have signaled further enforcement and legislative action.
📌 Key Facts
- USCIS launched Operation Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening (PARRIS) in mid‑December to reexamine roughly 5,600 refugees in Minnesota from 39 countries named in Trump travel‑ban proclamations, deploying personnel on site to redo background checks, reinterview refugees, verify claims, and decide whether to maintain status, revoke it, or refer individuals to ICE for deportation.
- USCIS says PARRIS grew out of 'rampant fraud' uncovered during last fall’s Operation Twin Shield in the Twin Cities, characterizes Minnesota as 'ground zero' for fraud, calls PARRIS a 'show of force' and plans to expand the operation beyond Minnesota after the current review.
- Prosecutors are investigating a large social‑services fraud tied to daycare, Medicaid and other programs in Minnesota — they flagged about $18 billion billed across 14 Medicaid‑funded programs since 2018 with a preliminary assessment that roughly half or more may be suspicious; law enforcement has also alleged an approximately $9 billion fraud scheme and brought dozens of criminal charges.
- Federal counts reported vary: DOJ’s statement lists 98 charged and 64 convictions in Minnesota social‑services fraud prosecutions and identifies 85 defendants as of Somali descent, while DHS/ICE statements have cited about 78 individuals charged, many from Minnesota’s Somali community.
- DHS and the State Department are reviewing naturalization cases involving migrants from 19 'countries of concern' (including Somalia) to determine whether any obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud and could be subject to denaturalization; the White House press secretary said the administration is 'not afraid to use denaturalization.'
- Legal experts caution denaturalization is legally possible but would be reserved for 'extraordinary' circumstances, would likely face significant court challenges, and that standard immigration law provides clearer mechanisms for handling noncitizens.
- Political reactions include President Trump asserting on Truth Social, without presenting evidence, that 'up to 90%' of the Minnesota fraud is caused by people who came illegally from Somalia and calling for their removal; Rep. Wesley Hunt has introduced a bill to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Somalia, which would require refugees from those countries to leave the U.S. within 180 days of enactment.
- DOJ signaled additional enforcement actions are planned in 2026 as part of escalated efforts against fraud and public corruption.
📊 Relevant Data
Among Somali Minnesotans aged 25 and older, 73.9% have a high school degree or higher, compared to 92.3% for the overall Minnesota population.
Latest Data on Somali Minnesotans 2024 — Empowering Strategies
Somali Minnesotans have a labor force participation rate of upwards of 70%, which is higher than the general Minnesota population rate of about 68%, but their unemployment rate is higher at around 10% compared to the state's 3.5%.
Contrary to Trump's claims, Somalis add $8B to MN economy — Star Tribune
Somali refugee resettlement in Minnesota began in the early 1990s, facilitated by U.S. refugee programs under the Refugee Act of 1980, with secondary migration driven by established community networks, job opportunities in meatpacking and manufacturing, and access to generous welfare benefits.
How did MN get the nation's largest Somali population? — Star Tribune
Factors contributing to welfare fraud in Minnesota's Somali community include lack of oversight in pandemic-era programs, cultural clan networks facilitating coordinated schemes, and socioeconomic vulnerabilities like high poverty rates, though not all community members are involved.
A Somali-American former investigator: why you're hearing about fraud in my community — Minnesota Reformer
📊 Analysis & Commentary (2)
"A historically framed City Journal opinion arguing that modern birthright citizenship should be reconsidered and defended more like a conditional, civic status—contextualizing and approving recent DHS reviews of citizenship fraud as part of that necessary recalibration."
"An opinion‑style piece invoking P.J. O'Rourke’s take on Somalis uses that lens to critique the media‑driven, racially‑charged federal crackdown in Minnesota—arguing Operation PARRIS and funding freezes were amplified by viral coverage, risk overreach and impose heavy collateral harms on refugee communities."
🔬 Explanations (6)
Deeper context and explanatory frameworks for understanding this story
Phenomenon: High incidence of fraud in Somali-run social service programs in Minnesota
Explanation: COVID-19 policy waivers suspended monitoring and verification requirements, creating opportunities for rapid escalation of fraudulent schemes in programs like child nutrition and Medicaid, amplified by structural integration challenges and community networks
Evidence: Interrupted time-series analysis shows a 3,847%-5,720% expenditure surge post-March 2020 waivers, with monthly fraud initiations increasing from 0.9 to 3.2; 79.8% of defendants initiated schemes during this period, linked to absent guardians and suitable targets per Routine Activity Theory
Alternative view: Economic strains from poverty and remittances creating desire for fraud; community dynamics exploiting trust and cultural ties to enable collusion
💡 Shifts focus from individual or cultural failings in the community to systemic policy failures in oversight, complicating narratives that attribute fraud solely to immigrant exploitation
Phenomenon: High incidence of fraud in Somali-run social service programs in Minnesota
Explanation: Socioeconomic pressures including poverty, unrecognized professional credentials, and financial obligations like remittances to Somalia create desire for fraudulent shortcuts, combined with vulnerabilities in public programs that inadequately guard against provider-recipient collusion
Evidence: High-profile cases like Feeding Our Future ($250 million fraud) and Medicaid schemes ($43 million) involve Somali defendants; author, a former investigator, notes pressures from low-wage jobs and family support needs, with programs relying on self-attestation and facing resource-intensive investigations
Alternative view: Policy relaxations during COVID enabling opportunity; political exploitation accusing regulators of bias to deter oversight
💡 Highlights victims within the community (e.g., recipients unaware of fraud) and systemic program flaws, challenging coverage that implies widespread community complicity without addressing economic desperation
Phenomenon: Trump administration's targeted immigration enforcement against Somalis in Minnesota
Explanation: Deployment of federal agents and termination of Temporary Protected Status as a response to alleged fraud scandals, serving political goals to criticize Democratic leadership and advance anti-immigration agenda in a key state
Evidence: Trump's statements link fraud to Somali community, terminating TPS and deploying agents amid investigations; echoes past terrorism cases and aims to hold Gov. Tim Walz accountable for oversight failures
Alternative view: Direct response to scale of fraud and national security concerns from earlier terrorism investigations
💡 Introduces political motivations beyond fraud enforcement, complicating coverage that frames actions as purely law-and-order measures by highlighting potential xenophobic targeting
Phenomenon: Crime disparities and public safety trends
Explanation: According to Howard Husock, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, in a 2025 op-ed, the fraud in Minnesota's social services stems from progressive anti-racist policies that misinterpret Somali immigrant poverty as evidence of systemic racism, leading to lax oversight and reluctance to scrutinize welfare programs for fear of appearing racist.
Evidence: Husock points to demographic data showing Somali refugee influx since the 1990s increased Minnesota's Black population significantly, with poverty rates misattributed to U.S. racism rather than immigration origins, resulting in policies that reduced policing and program monitoring post-George Floyd, enabling billion-dollar fraud schemes.
Alternative view: Alternative views attribute fraud primarily to pandemic-era policy relaxations and economic desperation within immigrant communities, as noted in New York Times reporting on oversight failures during Covid-19 aid expansions.
💡 This explanation complicates typical coverage by shifting focus from individual criminality or policy lapses to cultural and ideological factors in progressive governance, suggesting that anti-racism efforts inadvertently enabled fraud rather than direct negligence by leaders like Walz.
Phenomenon: Ethnic and racial demographic transitions
Explanation: A 2023 study by the Migration Policy Institute details that Somali migration to Minnesota was driven by U.S. refugee resettlement policies in response to Somalia's civil war, with initial placements by NGOs like Lutheran and Catholic services creating community networks that facilitated chain migration and demographic clustering in areas like Minneapolis.
Evidence: The study highlights how federal refugee programs resettled over 100,000 Somalis in the U.S. since 1991, with Minnesota becoming a hub due to strong social service support and family reunification, leading to a population of over 107,000 by 2024 and associated challenges like concentrated poverty.
💡 This connects the fraud story to broader migration policies, challenging narratives that frame Somali communities solely through crime by emphasizing policy-driven demographic shifts and integration challenges over inherent group tendencies.
Phenomenon: Rise of populism and political realignment
Explanation: In a 2025 Wall Street Journal analysis, political experts argue that Republicans are leveraging the Minnesota fraud scandal to attack Democratic leadership like Gov. Tim Walz, portraying it as evidence of failed oversight on immigration and welfare, thereby fueling populist anti-immigration sentiments and realigning voters in key states ahead of elections.
Evidence: The article references House Oversight Committee hearings and political commentary showing how the scandal, involving over $1 billion in fraud, is used to criticize Walz's administration, linking it to broader national debates on immigration and federal spending, with impacts on midterm election dynamics.
Alternative view: Some analyses suggest the scandal reflects genuine governance failures rather than purely political opportunism, as per New York Times reporting on systemic fraud issues beyond partisan blame.
📰 Source Timeline (5)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- USCIS has launched Operation Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening (PARRIS), beginning in mid‑December, to reexamine roughly 5,600 refugees in Minnesota from 39 'countries of concern' named in Trump travel‑ban proclamations.
- USCIS is deploying personnel on site in Minnesota to redo background checks, reinterview refugees and verify each claim, with the goal of determining whether refugee status should be maintained or revoked and whether to refer individuals to ICE for deportation proceedings.
- USCIS sources say Operation PARRIS stems from 'rampant fraud' uncovered in the Twin Cities during last fall’s Operation Twin Shield immigration‑fraud probe and that PARRIS will expand beyond Minnesota once the current review is complete.
- A USCIS spokesperson characterizes Minnesota as 'ground zero for the war on fraud' and frames Operation PARRIS as a 'show of force' to prevent the immigration system from being 'weaponized' by fraudsters.
- The article situates PARRIS within a wider DHS surge in Minnesota, citing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Director Todd Lyons, who says 'the largest immigration operation ever' is underway and links it to an alleged roughly $9 billion fraud scheme that has resulted in 78 individuals charged, many from Minnesota’s Somali community.
- Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) has introduced a House bill to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Somalia.
- The bill would require immigrants from those countries who are in the U.S. on refugee status to leave the country within 180 days of enactment, effectively triggering self-deportation.
- Hunt explicitly links the bill to the Minnesota social-services fraud probes, especially scrutiny of Somali-run childcare providers and the Feeding Our Future case, and frames it as a way to 'clean up' that fraud and block the spread of Sharia law in the U.S.
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox & Friends that the administration is 'not afraid to use denaturalization' and confirmed DHS and the State Department are 'looking at' whether citizenship could be revoked in connection with individuals of Somali origin in the Minnesota fraud probe.
- DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin provided an on‑the‑record statement that DHS is reviewing immigration and naturalization cases involving migrants from 19 'countries of concern,' including Somalia, to determine whether any obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud that could warrant denaturalization, explaining that fraudulent procurement of citizenship is legal grounds for denaturalization.
- The article explicitly links the 19‑country naturalization review to a 'massive fraud scandal' tied to Minnesota daycare, Medicaid and social‑services programs, with prosecutors now examining suspicious billing across 14 Medicaid‑funded programs that billed about $18 billion since 2018 and a preliminary assessment suggesting 'half or more' could be suspicious.
- President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social, asserting without evidence that 'up to 90%' of the Minnesota fraud is caused by people who came illegally from Somalia, calling them 'lowlifes' and saying they should be sent back to Somalia, which he described as 'perhaps the worst, and most corrupt, country on earth.'
- Attorney David Schoen, a former Trump impeachment lawyer, said in a Fox News interview that denaturalization is legally possible but would be reserved for 'extraordinary' circumstances and would likely face 'significant' court challenges, emphasizing that standard immigration law provides clearer mechanisms for dealing with noncitizens.
- DOJ’s new statement lists Minnesota social‑services fraud prosecutions as a flagship enforcement success, quantifying 98 charged, 64 convictions and 85 defendants identified as of Somali descent.
- The department links these cases to a broader narrative that it has 'restored' law enforcement priorities under President Trump after what it characterizes as Biden-era political weaponization.
- DOJ signals that additional enforcement actions are planned in 2026 as part of escalated efforts against fraud and public corruption.