Opinion | Fraud is not a characteristic of Minnesota’s immigrant communities

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Over the past three years, as the Feeding Our Future scandal unraveled, I have watched with alarm as the U.S. Attorney’s Office has announced one indictment after another, accusing Minnesota residents of committing fraud. Last month, the 75th defendant was charged in the massive scheme to defraud the Federal Child Nutrition Program, which was designed to provide meals to underserved children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent weeks there have been new revelations. Federal charges have been brought against eight defendants, accused of falsely providing housing under the Minnesota Housing Stability Services Program. Another defendant has been charged with defrauding a Minnesota health care program that provides necessary services to people under the age of 21 with autism spectrum disorder.

While the convictions continue to mount in the Feeding Our Future scandal, the housing and autism fraud cases are in the very earliest stages. So far, they are only allegations, and the individuals charged must be presumed innocent under our system of justice.

But the totality of these fraud charges is shocking. Such behavior must be condemned.

These fraud cases have put a target on the backs of all immigrants, who are now looked at with suspicion. It has put a target on the backs of the many, overwhelmingly honest, Somali American and other immigrant providers, including nonprofits, contractors, businesses and social service organizations.

It is important for the immigrant community to insist that our fellow immigrants embrace honesty in our dealings with each other and with the broader community including our government.

It is also important to underscore that despite the news accounts of fraud this is, overwhelmingly, not who we are. Immigrants make a huge contribution to our community. The American Immigration Council notes that 482,400 of Minnesota’s residents are foreign-born, about 8.4% of the population. We make up 10.8% of the state’s labor force. We spent $17 billion in Minnesota in 2023, and we paid $6.2 billion in taxes. Some 253,800 immigrants are eligible to vote and 273,600 of us are naturalized citizens.

Like immigrants who came before us, we are being held to a higher standard. That may be uncomfortable and unfair, but it is a reality. We in the immigrant community must affirm that Feeding Our Future and the more recent scandals do not reflect what our immigrant community stands for. We are committed to making Minnesota a better place, supporting and expanding entrepreneurship, building collaboration with the larger population, encouraging and enhancing educational opportunities for our young people, with an aim of building economic self-sufficiency.

One of the critical problems is that poor people, faced with language barriers, are often unable to navigate social service programs, and some have been lured into get-rich schemes, promoted by unscrupulous hustlers. We need to develop cultural and linguistic-specific services so that our immigrant communities can gain the access that native-born Minnesotans understand. It is a huge task, but we can do it. In the meantime, we pledge to do all we can to prevent such scandals in the future.