Multiple People Arrested After Feds Uncover Massive Immigration Fraud Scheme Involving Hundreds in Minnesota

A federal immigration enforcement sweep in Minnesota has revealed rampant fraud among immigrants in the Twin Cities, raising urgent questions about border security and America’s broken immigration system.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow said agents uncovered a disturbing array of schemes ranging from sham marriages to fake businesses and forged documents.

“Officers encountered blatant marriage fraud, visa overstay, people claiming to work as businesses that can’t be found, forged documents, abuse of the H1B visa system, abuse of the F1 visa, and many other discrepancies,” Edlow told reporters Tuesday, according to the New York Post.

Somali Immigration and Omar’s District

The Twin Cities has seen a massive rise in Somali refugee and immigrant populations, with more than 82,000 Somalians now living in Minnesota. The targeted enforcement sweep covered areas inside and around the congressional district represented by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)—a frequent critic of U.S. immigration enforcement and a champion of mass migration policies.

According to the New York Post, one immigration official estimated that “nearly 50 percent” of residents in the 1,000 homes targeted were engaged in some form of fraud.

“Our officers found indication of fraud, non-compliance or public safety and national security concerns,” Edlow said. “What they found should shock all of America.”

Disturbing Examples of Abuse

The USCIS report highlighted multiple cases of abuse and exploitation:

• One immigrant entered a fake marriage with an elderly American, later subjecting the citizen to elder abuse.
• Another admitted paying $100 for a forged Kenyan death certificate to dissolve a marriage, despite his wife—mother of five of his children—being alive and residing in Minneapolis.
• A woman admitted to marriage fraud only hours after previously insisting her marriage was legitimate.
• Officers also located the son of a suspected terrorist who overstayed his visa and was already denied benefits for fraud.

Enforcement Just the Beginning

The operation, carried out from Sept. 19 to Sept. 28, resulted in four arrests, according to KMSP-TV. Officials warned that the Minneapolis sweep is only the beginning, with other cities likely to be targeted next.

“When you look at what we’re seeing as concerning patterns of fraud, we’re seeing good cooperation here, especially among our field office working with our federal agents,” Edlow said. “It just makes sense to start in a city where we have a sense of what’s going on and where we can try to make an impact on certain things, like the immigration fraud from marriages and things of that nature.”

He added: “We knew Minneapolis and Saint Paul were a good place to start to get that coordination and to start addressing the red flags that we found.”

Edlow emphasized that this is precisely what the federal government should be doing to protect American sovereignty and public safety.

“And when you see what has been uncovered by these diligent officers over the past two weeks, less than a two-week period, that’s only the tip of the iceberg to what we’re actually dealing with when it comes to immigration fraud. That ultimately is, in my opinion, the same thing as a threat to our national security, a threat to public safety, and something that we’ve got to take seriously,” he said.