Walz, Ellison tell House panel Trump immigration crackdown hampered Minnesota fraud fight

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison defended their fraud-fighting record before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, arguing that the Trump administration’s mass immigration enforcement operation in their state has drained the prosecutorial resources needed to pursue Medicaid and other government fraud cases. Republicans on the panel accused the pair of stalling investigations, shielding wrongdoers to avoid disrupting a politically favored community, and failing taxpayers.

The hearing came as the Trump administration moved to withhold $243 million in Medicaid funding from Minnesota over fraud concerns — a decision the state sued to block Monday — and as Ellison said a wave of resignations at the state’s federal prosecution office had left remaining lawyers too overwhelmed with immigration caseloads to pursue fraud cases.

“The people of Minnesota have been singled out and targeted for political retribution at an unparalleled scale,” Walz said. “We’re going to prosecute, as we have, every single person that’s involved in fraud, but we can’t do it alone.”

Committee chair Rep. James Comer of Kentucky rejected that framing. “You have not been good stewards of the taxpayer dollars,” Comer said. “And the Democratic position is keep the money flowing. The American taxpayers have had enough.”

Operation Metro Surge, Ellison says, devastated fraud enforcement

Ellison told the panel that Operation Metro Surge — a deployment of roughly 3,000 federal agents that began in Minnesota in December — had actively damaged the state’s fraud prosecution capacity rather than advancing it.

“Operation Metro Surge did nothing to address fraud in our state,” Ellison said. “It harmed our economy and it scarred our people and it dealt a devastating blow to fraud enforcement in Minnesota.”

Ellison cited a series of resignations from lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, leaving those who remain, in his characterization, “drowning in immigration-related petitions” rather than pursuing fraud cases. On Tuesday, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota had appeared before a judge for a contempt hearing related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement not returning personal property of detainees.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who had testified the previous day, said about 650 investigators remain in Minnesota as part of a broader fraud probe.

Ellison said his office had “punched above our weight,” securing 300 Medicaid fraud convictions and recovering more than $80 million for taxpayers. Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana called on Ellison to resign, accusing him of failing to lead fraud investigations.

Feeding Our Future case and the ethnicity exchange

Republicans pressed Walz and Ellison on the Feeding Our Future case — a $250 million fraud scheme in which 92 defendants have been charged. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota, 82 of those 92 defendants are Somali Americans.

Comer accused Walz of lying about when he first learned of the fraud and of stalling action to protect the Somali American community. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio asked Walz directly how many of those indicted were Somali Americans.

“Their ethnicity is not my concern,” Walz said.

Medicaid funding fight

Last week, Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, describing it as part of an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds. Minnesota sued on Monday to stop the money from being withheld, warning it may have to cut health care for low-income families if the funding is held back.

Comer on Wednesday accused Walz of not stopping Medicaid payments despite knowledge of fraud because he “didn’t want to rock the boat.”

Democratic members raise deaths during enforcement operations

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California worked to shift the committee’s attention to the human toll of the immigration operations. He held up images of children detained by federal officers and a photograph of the blood-stained car seat of Renee Good, a Minnesota resident killed by a federal officer. Garcia also cited the death of Alex Pretti, another Minnesota resident killed while filming enforcement operations.

“This violence does not make us safer,” Garcia said. “It does not address fraud, waste and abuse.”