Minnesota Mogadishu

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The idea was just too good. Use the vast resources
of the wealthiest nation on earth to help those with
the least, and yet the Medicaid housing snap and daycare
fraud waste. An abuse case in Minnesota at this most
charitable time of the year may very well crack the
foundation of what makes Americans the most generous people in

(00:21):
the human race, faith and trust. Eighteen billion dollars at
last count, nine billion literally stolen. The FBI director says,
that's the tip of the iceberg. It appears. Migrant Somalis,
which number in the tens of thousands in the Twins
Cities area, so large in number they elected one of

(00:42):
their own to Congress, who might be the most corrupt
congress person in DC A mouthful, are either involved, illegally benefiting,
or both. As of today, eighty eight of those indicted
with criminal activity are Somalis. The first conviction has sent
one to prison for tis ten years. An investigative report

(01:02):
by a twenty three year old citizen YouTube journalist named
Nick Shirley, who merely walked around with an iPhone visiting
these fraudulent facilities and agencies, getting the door slammed in
his face by frightened employees and then editing and uploading
the videos on social media has one hundred million views.

(01:24):
Of his latest tranch of evidence, he's found daycare centers
with no kids, families getting food stamps that don't exist,
empty public housing, Medicaid recipients who are dead. Some of
the agencies receiving millions of dollars have no employees, no recipients,
not even a physical address. It has prompted an expanded

(01:46):
FBI investigation, ramped up deportation of Somali's by immigration and
customs enforcement, review of visas and green cards, even prompted
talk of criminal indictments against the Minnesota governor and his
attorney general to suggest both were unaware of this rampant corruption.
Writ large, theft defies both the logic and a minimum

(02:09):
expectation of operational competence. This is a five alarm failure
of government oversight. The governor and ag should resign before long.
They may have no choice, but its ramifications may cut
far deeper than simply exposing people bad at their jobs.
Asked about it last week, the President suggested we simply

(02:32):
deport all Somalis back to their god forsaken country by
reminding us that most all of them are on some
form of US taxpayer assistance, which tragically is true. Most
Americans equate Somalia, the African Horn nation, with the late
nineteen nineties major motion picture Black Hawk Down. It was

(02:53):
about a UN peacekeeping mission to Mogadishu, Somalia to capture
a corrupt Somali leader. Won't spoil it. The movie gave
us all a glimpse of just how dreadful the place is.
Abject poverty, disease, starvation, drought, constant military conflict. The nation's
eighteen million people live on an average of two hundred

(03:15):
and twenty five dollars a year. Can you blame Somali's
if they don't wake up every morning and dream of America?
They hear of this magical place where it's safe to
walk across the street, no one is allowed to just
steal what little you have, where children get fed three
times a day, attend a free public school, hospitals that

(03:35):
treat you if you're sick, and all of the other
things the social Safety Net catches. Obviously, not every Somali
is guilty of defrauding the government, but their connection to
it has turbocharged a growing national sentiment about two things.
Number one, who we let into this country why, and
number two the scope of the welfare state. Both systems

(03:57):
are terribly broken and no longer enjoy the support they
once had of the American people. In the last generation,
not all, but far too many have entered this country
from elsewhere and stayed, not to make it a better place,
grow the economy, diversify our society, but to simply enjoy
the benefits of being here. For decades, our immigration system

(04:18):
promoted just the opposite. Come to America, earn citizenship by
assimilating not just into our communities but our economy, and
many immigrants still do. But this episode screams reform, for
it has spawned a culture of theft, corruption, abuse, capitalizing
on a system so bloated, unwieldy, and unaccountable, it has

(04:39):
become a political weapon. And when social programs devolve to weaponry,
the inevitable result will be to drain the system, leaving
those truly in need without