US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it was auditing immigration cases involving US citizens of Somalian origin to detect fraud that could lead to denaturalization, or revocation of citizenship, while also announcing a freeze of childcare funds to Minnesota and demanding an audit of some daycare centers.
“Under US law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization,” US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Denaturalization cases are rare and can take years. About 11 cases were pursued per year between 1990 and 2017, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center said.
Photo: AFP
Since taking office in January last year, Trump has pursued a hardline immigration policy involving an aggressive deportation drive, revocations of visas and green cards, and screening of social media posts and past speeches of immigrants.
Federal officials in the past few weeks have portrayed Minnesota’s Somalian community as a hot spot for fraud involving millions of federal dollars intended for social services. Immigrant-rights advocates say the administration is using the fraud investigations as an excuse to target Somalian immigrants more broadly.
US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill wrote on social media that the move is in response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz pushed back on social media, saying that fraudsters are a serious issue that the state has spent years cracking down on, but that this move is part of “Trump’s long game.”
“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz said.
O’Neill referenced a right-wing influencer who posted a video on Friday last week claiming he found that daycare centers operated by Somalian residents in Minneapolis had committed up to US$100 million in fraud.
O’Neill said he has demanded that Walz submit an audit of the centers that includes attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.
“We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,” O’Neill said.
The announcement comes a day after US Department of Homeland Security officials were in Minneapolis conducting a fraud investigation by going to unidentified businesses and questioning workers.
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