Omar Received Donations From Restaurant Owner Who Stole Millions Meant for Kids

President Donald J. Trump’s push to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali nationals living in Minnesota has collided with a fresh wave of scrutiny surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., after federal prosecutors revealed new details related to a massive child-nutrition fraud scheme operating within the state’s Somali community.

In January, the Department of Justice announced federal convictions against the co-owner of Safari Restaurant—a Minneapolis establishment long tied to Omar’s political orbit—and a former senior mayoral aide. According to a DOJ press release, the defendants engaged in an elaborate criminal operation between April 2020 and January 2022, siphoning off millions from a federal program meant to ensure low-income children received meals during the pandemic.

The case represents just one branch of a sprawling federal probe into alleged abuse of pandemic-era nutrition funding. While the DOJ made no accusations against Omar herself, the department acknowledged that she had prior interactions with individuals later implicated in the criminal enterprise.

“The defendants exploited changes in the program intended to ensure underserved children received adequate nutrition during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rather than feed children, the defendants took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic—and the resulting program changes—to enrich themselves by fraudulently misappropriating millions of dollars in federal child nutrition program funds,” the DOJ wrote.

The agency further detailed the alleged operation: “According to court documents, Abdulkadir Nur Salah was co-owner and operator of Safari Restaurant, a site that received more than $16 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. Abdi Nur Salah registered Stigma-Free International, a non-profit entity used to carry out the fraud scheme with sites throughout Minnesota, including in Willmar, Mankato, St. Cloud, Waite Park, and St. Paul. Abdi Salah also worked for the City of Minneapolis as a Senior Policy Aide to the Mayor.”

Rep. Omar has not been accused of wrongdoing, but the connections have nonetheless drawn public attention. Safari Restaurant—where she previously campaigned and recorded promotional videos—donated approximately $4,700 to her congressional campaign across 2021 and 2022. In one video posted to X before the criminal allegations surfaced, Omar praised the restaurant’s involvement in providing meals for children, saying:

“I’m very happy to be here at Safari. As everyone knows, our young kids estimated about a number around 20 million, who are school kids, only get their food from school, so we got a chance to create a law called the Meals Act that makes it easy in this time of a pandemic for those kids who aren’t in school, who are at home, don’t starve,” she said.

Federal investigators say Safari Restaurant is now entangled in a sweeping $250 million fraud investigation—one of the largest pandemic-era fraud schemes in U.S. history. According to prosecutors cited by the Daily Mail, the operation involved filing claims for meals that were never served, fabricating participation numbers, and using “ghost” nonprofits and shell companies within Minnesota’s Somali community to funnel illicit reimbursements. Omar has not been accused of participating in or knowing about the scheme.

The revelations surfaced just as President Trump sharpened his criticism of Minnesota’s Somali community, linking his proposed TPS termination to federal prosecutions involving Somali defendants.

“I don’t want them in our country. Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks. They’re garbage,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting earlier this week.

Omar swiftly fired back on X, calling Trump “creepy” and “obsessed,” escalating the political confrontation.

Trump, however, doubled down, drawing a direct line between the fraud cases and his broader immigration policy.

“When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but b—-, we don’t want them in our country,” he said. “Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.”

With the DOJ now securing convictions and the Somali TPS program under active review by the White House, Minnesota’s political landscape is bracing for a high-stakes clash between Trump’s law-and-order agenda and Omar’s embattled progressive bloc—one that may reshape the future of immigration policy in the Upper Midwest.