By Steven Richards | Just the News
The cost to taxpayers identified by Vice President JD Vance’s task for targeting government benefit programs is mounting, and no plausible explanations are forthcoming.
The Trump administration’s work to pare back waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government has reportedly exposed a vast network of taxpayer-fleecing scams, abuses of immigration, and of the citizenship process across all corners of the United States.
The story involves resettled refugees soaking up federal paychecks to run home healthcare and childcare businesses, transnational criminal organizations exploiting food benefit programs, and scammers using fake student profiles to make off with millions in federal student loans. It also involves non-monetary forms of fraud, especially in immigration — legal and illegal alike.
Minnesota’s Somali community just the start
The Trump administration’s focus on fraud was originally sparked by new attention on a massive COVID-19-era fraud scheme in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Last year, the number of individuals charged by the Justice Department in the scheme surpassed 70.
The defendants, the vast majority of whom are part of the state’s large Somali immigrant community, were accused of systematically defrauding a federally-funded state food program, instead using the proceeds to enrich themselves, as Just the News has extensively reported.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT JUST THE NEWS
![FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]](https://rockymountainvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B1-300x300.png)