Fraudsters found every angle to syphon money away from taxpayers under Tim Walz’s failed leadership. Education Secretary Linda McMahon is now urging Walz to resign after it emerged that criminals in Minnesota stole over $12 million from the US Department of Education.
“At the beginning of this year, the U.S. Department of Education became aware that fraudulent college applicants, especially concentrated in Minnesota, were gaming the federal postsecondary education system to collect money that was intended for young Americans to help them afford college,” wrote McMahon.
These bad actors used the same ploy to extort money through programs intended to feed poor children and filed applications on behalf of “ghost students” who never existed. These individuals did not need to verify their ID. Some applicants did not even live in the United States if they existed at all. There were 1,834 approved “ghost students” in Minnesota who received a total of $12.5 million in grants and loans.
A teacher at Century College in Minnesota revealed that 15% of his students were “basically an organized crime ring.” Minnesota State College Southeast experienced a spike in new applicants driven by 84 ghost students, who were primarily Somalian. Some of these students enroll in online courses and attend class for the 10 required days to receive financial aid.
“They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest — without attending the college at all,” said McMahon. “Our new fraud prevention system has now blocked more than $1 billion in attempted financial aid theft by fraudsters, including coordinated international fraud rings and AI bots pretending to be students.”
Somalian crime organizations have found methods to steal from taxpayers through programs for education, food stamps, COVID, small businesses, childhood disability assistance, and elderly care. The welfare state has become their personal piggy bank. What has Walz done to curtail crime? Absolutely nothing. Over $1 billion has gone missing under Walz, which is far too high to be considered a mere oversight.
Walz plans to seek a third term in 2026, as Minnesota has no term limits for governors. He says that he will take accountability but has not taken any steps to curtail fraud. He refuses to accept that these crime rings are connected to Somalian crime organizations. Walz has every intention of expanding the unregulated welfare state and will not hesitate to raise taxes on the very people these programs are designed to assist.