Trump Takes Aim At Ilhan Omar Again As Somali Fraud Case Explodes In MN

President Donald J. Trump, in a blunt and unapologetic exchange during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, took aim at Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and the growing scandals tied to widespread Medicaid and Covid-relief fraud inside Minnesota’s massive Somali community — the very community Omar represents. The President did not mince words, calling Omar “garbage” and arguing that Somalis who come to the United States and refuse to contribute should “go back to where they came from.”

His remarks land amid a cascade of reports detailing systemic abuse of taxpayer-funded programs in Minnesota, long plagued by fraud networks operating with apparent impunity. These scandals have become a defining crisis in Omar’s home district, raising renewed questions about political accountability, state oversight, and the growing strain on public resources.

Trump, responding to new revelations about billion-dollar abuses, reiterated his America-first immigration stance. “I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you, OK. Somebody will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason,” he said.

Going further, Trump blasted Somalia’s entrenched instability and decades of foreign-aid dependence: “Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country,” he said, pointing to the nation’s history of corruption, warlordism, and failed governance. “With Somalia, which is barely a country, you know, they have no, they have no anything. They just run around killing each other. There’s no structure,” he added, before turning his attention to Omar herself — a frequent critic of U.S. institutions and an outspoken progressive voice in Congress.

“I always watch her,” Trump said, adding that she “hates everybody. And I think she’s an incompetent person. She’s a real terrible person.”

Omar responded on social media, posting a video clip of Trump’s remarks and writing: “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”

The President’s comments unfolded as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — who sat beside him — continued to push for a hard-line border and immigration agenda. On Monday night, she warned on social media: “I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”

Later in the meeting, Trump doubled down, repeating that Omar is “garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work. These aren’t people that say, ‘Let’s go, come on, let’s make this place great.’ These are people that do nothing but complain.”

“You know, if they came from paradise, and they said, ‘This isn’t paradise,’ but when they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but b—-, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it,” he added.

Meanwhile, federal law enforcement is preparing for an upcoming immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area. A senior official told NBC News that while ICE is not specifically targeting Somalis, arrests of Somali nationals could occur if agents encounter individuals violating U.S. immigration law. The New York Times first reported the planned operation.

Trump’s commentary came at the tail end of the public portion of the two-hour Cabinet meeting. A reporter had asked whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz should resign due to widespread Covid-relief fraud in the state — a scandal that has already produced dozens of convictions. According to The New York Times, 59 individuals, most of them Somali, have been convicted on charges connected to fraudulent schemes that siphoned off more than $1 billion from taxpayer-funded programs.

Trump summarized the scale bluntly: “Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars, billions, every year, billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing.”

Compounding the controversy, nearly 500 employees inside Minnesota's own state government now say Gov. Walz ignored years of internal warnings about massive fraud within programs serving the Somali community — and even retaliated against staff who tried to raise the alarm. The employees, based in the state Department of Human Services, operate an anonymous X account where they document what they describe as ongoing abuses and coverups inside the system.

In their latest post, the whistleblowers alleged Walz not only refused to act but actively punished employees who attempted to report fraud through official state channels. The claims raise new concerns about state leadership, accountability, and the extent to which political sensitivities have shielded fraudulent operations from scrutiny.