OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:36 PM – Wednesday, December 17, 2025
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon rebuked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Tuesday, issuing a sharply worded letter that slammed his administration. In it, McMahon highlights Walz’s “careless lack of oversight,” while tying his leadership to deep failures in the state’s welfare system that allowed widespread, ongoing fraud to flourish.
McMahon accused Walz of allowing fraudsters to “establish a beachhead of criminality” on his watch.
She specifically noted a federal student aid fraud scheme involving “ghost students,” fraudulent applicants who were not ID-verified, often nonexistent or not in the U.S. According to the letter, 1,834 such cases in Minnesota resulted in millions in improperly disbursed taxpayer-funded grants and loans.
McMahon’s letter calls for Walz’s (D-Minn.) resignation amid broader criticisms of his oversight of state-administered programs, highlighting $12.5 million in federal student aid fraud while providing context on Minnesota’s massive welfare fraud scandals — estimated to have exceeded $1 billion in total stolen taxpayer funds across multiple programs.
The largest single scandal involves “Feeding Our Future,” a nonprofit that received funds intended for child nutrition services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization and affiliates created fake meal sites and submitted fraudulent rosters of children served to obtain government funds, stealing an estimated $250 million to $300 million.
Its founder, Aimee Bock, has since been convicted on fraud-related charges.
Approximately 95% of those charged or convicted in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme are from Somalia or of Somali descent. Federal prosecutors have charged 78 defendants in this specific case as the largest COVID-era child nutrition fraud scheme.
Other state-administered federal programs, including the Medicaid-funded Housing Stabilization Services program and autism-services programs, have also been targeted by fraudsters, the majority being from Minnesota’s Somali community as well.
At the start of December, a social media account representing over 400 Minnesota Department of Human Services workers asserted that Walz was “100% responsible for [the] massive fraud in Minnesota,” accusing the Minnesota governor of actively working to quiet whistleblowers attempting to uncover the fraudulent activity.
McMahon’s letter marks the latest blow to Walz’s already embattled political reputation.
Walz, in response, claimed that the fraud was “totally disconnected” from Minnesota’s Somali community, despite the racial demographics of those charged and convicted. He went on to praise his state’s local Somali population, noting that many had fled civil war and have contributed “vibrantly” to the state.
“You have been Minnesota’s Governor since 2019. During that time, your careless lack of oversight and abuse of the welfare system has attracted fraudsters from around the world, especially from Somalia, to establish a beachhead of criminality in our country. As President Trump put it, you have turned Minnesota into a ‘fraudulent hub of money laundering activity,’” McMahon wrote.
McMahon further warned that the U.S. Department of Education has become aware of fraudulent college applicants, “especially [those] concentrated in Minnesota,” who have been “gaming the federal postsecondary education system to collect money that was intended for young Americans to help them afford college.”
“We call these fraudsters ‘ghost students’ because they were not ID-verified and often did not live in the United States, or they simply did not exist. In Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans. 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,” McMahon continued, noting that the Department of Education has implemented enhanced fraud controls, blocking over $1 billion in attempted financial aid theft.
“Joining these criminals in their schemes have been Minnesota politicians who benefit—both in votes and donations—from the fraudsters’ support. Like the radical Islamic terror groups overseas who receive Minnesota money to kill American servicemembers, Minnesota’s political elite has turned a blind eye and even helped facilitate the laundering of money that was meant to help America’s least fortunate,” McMahon proclaimed.
“Shame on you, Governor Walz, for allowing this to happen—and for benefiting from it. Stop defrauding American taxpayers. No politician is above the law, and my department, alongside every other agency under the leadership of President Trump, will continue to ensure that you will not be able to dodge accountability for your actions,” she added. “Given your dereliction of the office entrusted to you by Minnesota, I implore you to resign and make way for more capable leadership.”
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