OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:12 AM – Friday, December 19, 2025
Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar asserted that she has no regrets about introducing the MEALS Act in 2020, arguing that the legislation did in fact help feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite widespread fraud and arrests resulting from the pandemic era’s $250 million “Feeding Our Future” fraud scheme.
The act was supposed to provide waivers to federal child nutrition programs, enabling broader meal distribution amid school closures.
Omar (D-Minn.) was recently asked whether she regrets introducing the MEALS Act, to which she responded: “Absolutely not, it did help feed kids.”
The MEALS Act was introduced by Omar in March 2020. It aimed to expand free school meal access by “simplifying applications, reducing paperwork, increasing community eligibility, and addressing unpaid meal debt.”
In the Feeding Our Future scandal, the Minnesota nonprofit and its network of sponsors and meal sites fraudulently obtained over $250 million in funds from USDA-administered federal child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participants created shell entities, established fictitious meal distribution sites, submitted inflated or entirely fabricated claims for millions of meals, and diverted the reimbursements for personal enrichment — such as luxury vehicles, real estate, and travel — rather than feeding children.
At least 78 individuals have been federally charged in connection with the scheme, with more than 50 pleading guilty.
Among them is Salim Ahmed Said, a co-owner of Minneapolis’s Safari Restaurant, who was convicted this year on multiple counts of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering after pocketing millions by billing for nearly 4 million nonexistent meals — funds that prosecutors say went toward luxury purchases like a $2 million mansion.
Omar celebrated her 2018 congressional primary victory at Safari Restaurant, a popular venue in the local Somali community. She was recently asked about how the fraud became so widespread in Minnesota.
“I think what happened, um, is that, you know, when you have these kind of new programs that are, um, designed to help people, you’re oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate. And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up — they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created,” Omar responded.
In a separate statement, Omar even went as far as to frame the state’s Somali community as victims, in relation to the scheme.
“You know, this also has an impact on Somalis, because we are also taxpayers in Minnesota. We could have also benefited from the program and the money that was stolen,” she added.
Additionally, she labeled Border Czar Tom Homan as “sick,” after he stated that the Trump administration could begin investigating her for alleged immigration fraud. Homan’s statement was seemingly in response to President Donald Trump’s claim that Omar married her brother to obtain U.S. citizenship, which she denies.
“You know, there was immigration fraud involved,” Homan stated earlier this month. “The statute of limitations became an issue in the last four years when this was first brought up. Who was president? Who ran [the Department of Justice]?”
Alongside the Trump administration’s investigation, Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) announced on Wednesday that he is “actively considering” bringing forth a vote to expel Omar from Congress.
“I won’t send out fundraising emails calling for her expulsion. If I’m going to do that, you will see me bring the piece of paper. And I am actively considering that,” Fine told Axios. “I don’t think she should be a citizen, let alone a member of Congress.”
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