CNN pundit says focusing on Minnesota fraudsters' Somali ethnicity is 'categorical nonsense'

As focus has renewed on fraud in Minnesota under Governor Tim Walz's administration, for which the majority of those charged so far are part of the Somali community, a CNN pundit has claimed that focusing on the suspects’ race and ethnicity is "categorical nonsense." 

Speaking in a panel, Tangle editor-at-large Kmele Foster said, "This is how we talk about race and ethnicity in this country. We do a lot of categorical denunciations. For a very long time, it was all about kind of black lives and whiteness and what whiteness does. No one should be shocked that this is how we're talking about Somalians in this context as well. And I think in general, if we were to move away from that kind of categorical nonsense, it’ll be a little bit easier take in, take on board the condemnations of the President in this context, as opposed to having to just kind of do it when it’s convenient for us."

Of the 86 convicted so far in fraudulent schemes in Minnesota, 78 are of Somali ancestry, the White House said. A number of nonprofits set up by Somalis in the state have claimed to be feeding hungry children, providing services to the homeless, and providing therapy to autistic Somali children. However, taxpayer funds in the state did not go to the community, but instead to organizers’ pockets or were sent back to Somalia. 

Trump called out the fraud in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, saying, "But when I watch what is happening in Minnesota … and I see these people ripping it off. And now I'm understanding, and you're going to look at that, I hear they ripped off, Somalians, ripped off that state for billions of dollars, billions, every year billions of dollars. And they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88 percent. They contribute nothing."

"I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest with you, okay? Somebody will say, 'Oh, that's not politically correct.' I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don't want them in our country. I can say that about other countries too. I can say it about other countries too."

Trump said that the US needs to be rebuilt and is "at a tipping point." He said, "We could go bad. We're at a tipping point. I don't know if people mind me saying that, but I'm saying it. We could go one way or the other, and we're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work. These aren't people that say, 'let's go, come on. Let's make this place great.' These are people that do nothing but complain. They complain and from where they came from, they got nothing. You know, they came from paradise, and they said, This isn't paradise. But when they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don't want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it."

Among the fraud schemes found in Minnesota was the fake charity "Feeding Our Future," in which taxpayer funds that were meant to go to feeding hungry children instead went to the pockets of the dozens of defendants in the case, the majority of which are from the Somali community. The case is the largest Covid fraud case in the country. 

In another case, a member of the Somali community who was also charged in the Feeding our Futures case was also involved in a scheme to obtain $14 million by taking advantage of Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program. Asha Farhan Hassan and other co-defendants were said to have approached parents in the Somali community to have parents enroll their children in autism services, even if the child did not have autism.