Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey chose politics over principle this week when he delivered a public defense of his city’s Somali community — even switching into Somali during the remarks — and openly declared the city would not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. That performance came as federal reports said agents were preparing operations in the Twin Cities, and it looked more like a mayor pandering for headlines than a leader protecting taxpayers. Voters deserve mayors who put rule of law and American citizens first, not theatrical displays aimed at a single voting bloc.
Washington’s move to send federal agents to the Twin Cities was billed as targeted enforcement, with media reports saying as many as 100 officers would focus on individuals with final deportation orders tied to a sprawling fraud probe. The Biden-era soft-on-enforcement approach that let this mess grow now meets consequence, and Democratic officials’ reflexive hand-wringing only reveals how beholden they are to identity politics. Americans should be concerned when enforcement becomes a political football and local leaders reflexively side with those under investigation.
The scandal at the center of this storm is no small-time grift: prosecutors have tied the Feeding Our Future program and affiliated groups to hundreds of millions in fraudulent claims for pandemic-era child nutrition funds. Federal prosecutors and the Justice Department have described reimbursements that were meant to feed children but were instead used to buy luxury cars, real estate and other personal benefits. When a charity created to help children becomes a conduit for theft on that scale, taxpayers — and the kids who were cheated — deserve answers and accountability.
Courts have already handed down stiff sentences to major figures in the scheme, including multi-decade prison terms and massive restitution orders, and dozens of defendants have been indicted or convicted as the probe widened. The scale of the fraud has been estimated in recent reporting at roughly $250 million to $300 million, making this one of the largest pandemic-era scams in the country. These facts make the mayor’s theatrical solidarity ring hollow to any working family who received higher taxes or fewer services because of political mismanagement.
Worse still, the scandal exposed systemic oversight failures inside state agencies and prompted federal scrutiny of Minnesota’s executive leadership, with Treasury and House investigators now digging into how the fraud was allowed to flourish. Conservatives have long warned that lax oversight and political favor-trading invite corruption; now taxpayers are seeing the bill. If officials turned a blind eye because of identity politics or electoral calculations, those officials must face the full light of congressional and criminal inquiry.
This is the ugly trade-off Democrats keep making: cultivate a coalition on the backs of hardworking Americans, then use culture-war theatrics to shield political allies when the truth comes out. Frey’s Somali-language flourish was not leadership — it was a rallying cry for a political base at a moment when citizens should be demanding fiscal honesty and public safety. Real leaders answer for failures, reform broken systems, and cooperate with investigations, not perform for cameras.
Republican lawmakers and patriotic prosecutors must press for full transparency, subpoena the records, and make sure every fingerpointing bureaucrat explains their role in allowing this theft. Families who rely on school lunches and essential services deserve better than virtue-signaling from elected officials while fraudsters strip funds from kids. Let the investigations run their course, and let justice be blind to ideology.
America is a nation of laws and a nation of neighbors, and defending one does not require excusing the other. We can welcome people who come here legally and contribute to our communities while insisting that anyone who steals from the public — whatever their background — be punished. If Democrats continue to put political theater above accountability, the hardworking taxpayers who keep this country running will keep voting accordingly.
