Minnesota's anti-ICE aid fund becomes latest casualty of state's embarrassing fraud problem

A program designed to assist businesses impacted by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota has been shut down following widespread fraud concerns, according to local news reports.

The board of Hennepin County in Minnesota, home to Minneapolis, approved $2 million in funding for local businesses impacted by Operation Metro Surge — a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota launched in December 2025. The county received roughly 300 applications and ultimately distributed about $500,000 to 82 applicants, while more than 200 applications were flagged for potential fraud, according to local reports.

"The fact that people, after all this fraud, felt that they could apply and get away with it, I think it's a problem because clearly there's no fear out there," Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Lunde said, according to Kare 11. "Until we get it where people fear things, then they're gonna keep doing it."

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz proposed a $10 million emergency relief package for small businesses impacted by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Much of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric surrounding illegal immigration in Minnesota has been targeted at the state’s Somali population amid reports of widespread fraud.

Members of Minnesota’s Somali community have been accused, and in some cases convicted, of using non-existent or inactive businesses and nonprofits to siphon money away from government programs intended to help the needy.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2026. The committee held the hearing to examine the alleged misuse of federal funds intended for Minnesota social services and Medicaid programs. (Getty Images)

Similarly, Hennepin County officials reported that many businesses seeking relief funds drafted applications containing false information, seemingly fabricated by AI, that were copied, pasted, and submitted for multiple businesses. Other businesses submitting applications, meanwhile, were found not to exist when county officials made site visits.

"Then at a certain point we're like, 'OK, we're getting declining results on that.' And so we said it's time to stop the program. So we just stopped processing at that point," Lunde, who characterized the applications as overwhelmingly fraudulent, said.

The immigration enforcement operation in the state also drew national attention after U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis in January.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2026. The hearing examined alleged misuse of federal funds for Minnesota social services and Medicaid programs. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has acknowledged responsibility for addressing the fraud in his state, saying it is his "responsibility to fix it." He has previously argued that "any amount of fraud is too much and undermines the very programs that do so much to raise our quality of life." 

The governor, however, has pushed back on conservative attempts to pin the fraud primarily on the Somali community in the state. 

"What is not helpful is the president of the United States demonizing an entire community," the governor wrote in a December 2025 op-ed.

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Hennepin County and Walz's office did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Thursday.