Walz tells Congress ICE surge hampered Minnesota fraud fight
Gov. Tim Walz told a House Oversight Committee that the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge and broader immigration crackdown undermined Minnesota’s fraud investigations by diverting federal resources, politicizing oversight, and threatening to freeze Medicaid and child‑care funds, calling the state a “scapegoat” and disputing DOJ’s multibillion‑dollar fraud figures compared with actual indictments. His testimony came as federal tensions escalated — with President Trump threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, directing that federal agents won’t intervene in protests unless cities ask (and must say “please”), and ordering ICE and Border Patrol to be “very forceful” in protecting federal property — developments that have fueled protests after the Minneapolis ICE crackdown and complicated state‑local legal fights over the surge.
📌 Key Facts
- Gov. Tim Walz told the U.S. House Oversight Committee that the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge and broader immigration crackdown undermined Minnesota’s fraud investigations by diverting federal resources and politicizing oversight.
- Walz said federal threats to freeze or claw back Medicaid and child‑care funds, paired with federal raids in Minneapolis–St. Paul, made it harder — not easier — to stabilize and clean up high‑risk programs.
- Walz framed Minnesota as a “scapegoat” for national politics, saying DOJ’s claimed multi‑billion‑dollar fraud figures contrast with the hundreds of millions documented in indictments; he added that state auditors and new program‑integrity leadership are now in place to fix problems if Washington stops using ICE as a political weapon.
- The White House has escalated its posture around the Minneapolis ICE shootings, including a public threat to invoke the Insurrection Act — an escalation FOX 9 says will hang over Walz’s scheduled statewide address and would collide with state and local leaders already in court over Operation Metro Surge.
- President Trump said he instructed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that federal agents will not “participate” in dealing with protests and riots in Democratic‑run cities unless those cities formally ask for help (and say “please”), while simultaneously ordering ICE and Border Patrol to be “very forceful” in protecting federal property and warning of consequences for attacks on officers or vehicles.
- FOX 9 ties the new federal directive and tougher posture to the Jan. 31 nationwide strike and protests sparked by the Minneapolis ICE crackdown and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, framing the White House’s deployment decisions as a response to those events.
- Any move to invoke the Insurrection Act or expand forceful federal deployments risks legal clashes with local officials and could further politicize and complicate state efforts to address program integrity and fraud in Minnesota.
📊 Relevant Data
Most defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud case, a major Medicaid-related fraud scandal in Minnesota, are of Somali descent, with estimates showing over 80% of defendants having Somali origins, while Somalis make up only about 2% of Minnesota's population (approximately 108,000 out of 5.8 million), indicating significant per capita overrepresentation in these fraud convictions.
Surge in federal officers in Minnesota focuses on alleged fraud at day-care centers — PBS NewsHour
Somali immigrants in Minnesota face stark socioeconomic disparities, with high poverty rates and 81% of Somali households relying on government welfare, which may contribute to vulnerabilities in welfare programs like Medicaid.
Somali Immigrants in Minnesota — Center for Immigration Studies
Federal refugee resettlement policies have significantly contributed to the growth of the Somali community in Minnesota, with many arriving as refugees fleeing civil war, leading to a population of over 107,000 by 2025.
How Minnesota became a hub for Somali immigrants in the U.S. — NPR
Arrests under Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota include individuals from Somali, Latino, and Southeast Asian backgrounds, with the operation targeting criminal illegal aliens in areas with significant immigrant communities.
2025–26 Minnesota ICE Deployment | Operation Metro Surge — Britannica
📰 Source Timeline (4)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- Gov. Tim Walz, under oath before the U.S. House Oversight Committee, said the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge and broader immigration crackdown undermined Minnesota’s fraud investigations by diverting federal resources and politicizing oversight.
- Walz argued that federal threats to freeze or claw back Medicaid and child‑care funds — paired with a federal agent army running raids in Minneapolis–St. Paul — made it harder, not easier, to stabilize and clean up high‑risk programs.
- He framed Minnesota as a 'scapegoat' for national politics, contrasting DOJ’s claimed multi‑billion‑dollar fraud figures with the hundreds of millions documented in actual indictments, and said state auditors and new program‑integrity leadership are now in place to fix longstanding problems if Washington stops using ICE as a political weapon.
- Trump publicly states he has instructed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that federal agents will not "participate" in dealing with protests and riots in Democratic-run cities unless those cities formally ask for help, adding that they must say "please" when they do.
- Trump simultaneously orders ICE and Border Patrol to be "very forceful" in protecting federal property, citing a demonstration in Eugene, Oregon, and warns that anyone who spits on officers or damages vehicles will face "equal, or more, consequence."
- The article explicitly links the new directive to the Jan. 31 nationwide strike and protests sparked by the Minneapolis ICE crackdown and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, framing how the White House is now positioning federal deployment in response.
- Introduces Trump’s Insurrection Act threat as a major new federal escalation that will hang over Walz’s scheduled statewide address.
- Frames the President’s post as directly responding to Minneapolis street protests and clashes around the ICE shootings, not just to abstract crime or border issues.
- Shows that any Insurrection Act move would collide head‑on with state and local leaders already in court trying to rein in Operation Metro Surge.