Homeland Security officials said they were conducting a fraud investigation in Minneapolis on Monday, an action DHS Secretary Kristi Noem tied to a yearslong federal case that began with the Feeding Our Future nonprofit. Noem said the operation followed earlier investigations and described it as a broad effort focused on programs connected to child care and other alleged “rampant fraud,” adding that DHS officers were questioning a person at an unidentified business seen in a video she posted on the social platform X. (The Associated Press reported that Noem posted the video on Monday and said the officers were “conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.”)

The Associated Press said the investigation comes after a case prosecutors said involved a $300 million scheme at Feeding Our Future, with 57 defendants in Minnesota convicted. Prosecutors alleged the nonprofit was at the center of what they described as the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud scam, in which defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.

Earlier in December, the Associated Press reported, a federal prosecutor alleged that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds supporting 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. The prosecutor’s allegation, as described by the Associated Press, said many of the defendants were Somali Americans. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in response that fraud would not be tolerated and that his administration would keep working with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.

Monday’s announcement also drew attention to the relationship between federal and state enforcement. The Associated Press reported that tensions had been high in Minnesota in recent weeks, in part because the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has focused on the Somali community in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where the community is described as the largest in the country.

As part of the federal push, the Associated Press reported that Immigration and Custom Enforcement posted on X that “The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is being used and ARRESTS when abuse is found.” The federal agencies’ activity described in that post was presented alongside the DHS video Noem posted, in which she showed officers entering and questioning someone behind a counter.

The investigation was also preceded, the Associated Press reported, by statements from FBI Director Kash Patel on X about earlier fraud arrests in Minnesota. Patel said the FBI had “surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs,” and he described previous fraud arrests in Minnesota as “just the tip of a very large iceberg.”

The Associated Press said prosecutors and investigators have described a pattern of alleged schemes involving child nutrition, housing services and autism programs. In particular, it reported that 82 of the 92 defendants were Somali Americans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota.

Walz’s office responded through a spokesperson, the Associated Press reported, with Claire Lancaster saying the governor had worked for years to “crack down on fraud” and that he sought more authority from the Legislature to take aggressive action. Lancaster also pointed to criminal prosecutions and additional steps, including strengthening oversight and hiring an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs.

The Associated Press also reported that President Donald Trump had criticized Walz’s administration over the fraud cases to date, even as the federal government said it was moving forward with further investigations in Minneapolis.

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