Expert reveals key factor that led to massive Minnesota fraud scheme
An ongoing decline in American assimilation and a deep fear of being accused of racism were key factors in the massive fraud scheme in Minnesota that is now coming to...
By Fox News · Fox News
An ongoing decline in American assimilation and a deep fear of being accused of racism were key factors in the massive fraud scheme in Minnesota that is now coming to light, according to an expert. Minnesota is facing one of the largest social-services fraud scandals in U.S. history after federal prosecutors uncovered what they describe as " schemes stacked upon schemes " by Somali-run non-profits that siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from child-nutrition and Medicaid housing programs. Prosecutors have since charged more than 70 defendants, a large percentage of whom are members of Minnesota’s Somali community, securing dozens of convictions as new waves of indictments continue. The scandal has triggered state and federal investigations, congressional scrutiny, and calls for accountability over why warnings were missed and how the fraud was allowed to reach this scale. Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said that the decline in immigrant assimilation in America was key during an interview with Fox News Digital. INSIDE ‘LITTLE MOGADISHU’: MINNESOTA’S BELEAGUERED SOMALI COMMUNITY UNDER A CLOUD OF FRAUD AND TRUMP ATTACKS "Assimilation is a two-sided coin. The pressure comes from inside, from you wanting to assimilate so you can make it in the new society, but it also comes from outside, where the society says, ‘Hey, we expect you to do this. We expect you, if you want a driver's license, to be able to speak and read English at a basic level.’ We don't do that anymore in America. We don't we don't really expect anything of our immigrants," explained Hankinson. "There are a lot of people who are American-born," he went on, "who really don't like this country and what it stands for. And so, they don't think anyone else ought to accept it and adapt to it either." Hankinson noted that in no way can the fraud scheme be blamed writ large on the Minnesota-Somali community, which is es…