The federal government is done waiting for Minnesota to investigate itself.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer announced Monday that a specialized unemployment insurance strike team is being deployed to the state — and she’s not mincing words about why.

“I am appalled at what we are hearing about potential fraud coming from numerous benefits programs in Minnesota.”

The same state where billions in welfare fraud funded everything from luxury cars to al-Qaeda-linked terror groups. The same state where 500 government employees accused Governor Tim Walz of ignoring their warnings. The same state where whistleblowers say they were “systematically retaliated against” for reporting fraud.

Now the feds are coming. And based on what they’ve found elsewhere, Minnesota should be terrified.

$1.4 Billion Already Recovered — And They’ve Barely Started Looking

Here’s the number that should make every Minnesota official nervous:

“$1.4 billion we returned to the Treasury already… and that’s just from taking a little bit of a peek under the covers.”

A “little bit of a peek.” That’s how Chavez-DeRemer described the investigation that’s already recovered over a billion dollars in fraudulent unemployment payments.

Maryland alone had $520 million in “suspected fraudulent” pandemic-era payments returned to the state.

And now the same strike team that found those billions is heading to Minnesota — ground zero for the largest welfare fraud scandal in American history.

The Trail Leads to Al-Shabaab

This isn’t just about money. It’s about where that money went.

Last month, City Journal traced millions of dollars in defrauded Medicaid funding from Minnesota to al-Shabaab — the al-Qaeda-linked Somali terror group responsible for attacks that have killed thousands.

American taxpayer dollars. Stolen through welfare fraud. Funding terrorism.

Seventy people were indicted in July for stealing over $250 million from hungry children during COVID. The same suspects allegedly also defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program. The schemes were layered, sophisticated, and apparently operating with impunity for years.

And Tim Walz did nothing to stop it.

500 State Employees Say Walz Is “100% Responsible”

The most damning indictment doesn’t come from Republicans or conservative media. It comes from nearly 500 Minnesota government employees who worked inside the system.

Their statement went viral:

“Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports.”

They called him “100% responsible” for the fraud crisis.

These are the people who saw it happening. Who raised alarms. Who tried to stop it. And who say they were punished for speaking up.

Walz didn’t just fail to prevent the fraud. According to his own employees, he actively suppressed efforts to expose it.

“Nobody Paid Attention. The Oversight Wasn’t There.”

Chavez-DeRemer explained how this happened:

“Under COVID, under the CARES Act, we saw all of those dollars being printed and pumped into the system… it has now been an organized criminal activity… Nobody paid attention. The oversight wasn’t there from Congress.”

Trillions of dollars flooded into unemployment systems, small business programs, and welfare payments. The money moved faster than anyone could track. And organized criminals — including networks with ties to foreign terror groups — were ready to exploit every gap.

Minnesota wasn’t just a victim of this chaos. According to Chavez-DeRemer, Minnesota actively made it worse.

“They asked for a lot of the waivers to continue these programs to offer more unemployment for a longer period of time. Now we’re seeing the fraudulent behavior.”

Minnesota’s Democratic leadership requested extensions and waivers that kept the fraud-vulnerable programs running longer. More time meant more opportunity for theft.

Democrat States Are the Worst Offenders

Chavez-DeRemer specifically called out the pattern:

“Going on to highlight the rampant fraud in Democrat-controlled states, she specifically named Minnesota and Oregon as examples.”

This isn’t random. It’s systemic.

Blue states pushed for looser controls. Blue states resisted verification requirements. Blue states extended pandemic programs long after the emergency ended. Blue states — by design or negligence — created the conditions for massive fraud.

Minnesota and Oregon aren’t outliers. They’re examples of what happens when ideology trumps accountability.

The Strike Team Is Coming

The DOL’s unemployment insurance strike teams are specialized units designed to dig into state programs and find fraud that local officials missed — or ignored.

They’ve already recovered $1.4 billion nationally. They found half a billion in Maryland alone. Now they’re focused on Minnesota.

“Today, we have sent a letter to the state to say we will send out one of our unemployment insurance strike teams to determine where else the fraudulent behavior is happening,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “Because the American people don’t deserve this.”

The letter went to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development on Monday. The review will be conducted onsite. And the findings will go directly to the Labor Secretary.

There’s no more hiding. No more state-level cover-ups. No more Walz appointees investigating Walz’s failures.

Federal investigators are coming. And they’re “appalled” before they’ve even arrived.

What They’ll Find

Based on what’s already public, here’s what the strike team will likely discover:

Fraudulent unemployment claims filed using stolen identities. Payments sent to people who never lost jobs — or never existed. Money flowing to networks connected to the same Somali community implicated in the Feeding Our Future scandal. Possible links between UI fraud and the terror financing already documented.

The $250 million stolen from children was just one program. The DOL is now looking at unemployment insurance. The SBA already found PPP fraud among the same suspects.

How many programs were compromised? How deep does this go? How many billions in total?

The strike team will find out. And Minnesota’s leadership will have to answer for what they allowed to happen.

Tim Walz’s Reckoning Is Coming

Every new investigation brings the spotlight closer to one person: Tim Walz.

His employees say he’s “100% responsible.” They say he retaliated against whistleblowers. They say he ignored warnings for years while fraud exploded under his watch.

Now federal investigators are on the ground. The Secretary of Labor is personally demanding answers. And the findings will be public.

Walz can’t blame Republicans — Democrats controlled Minnesota. He can’t blame understaffing — his own employees begged to investigate. He can’t blame the pandemic — other states didn’t see fraud at this scale.

The only explanation left is the one his employees already provided: He didn’t want to stop it.

“The American People Don’t Deserve This”

Chavez-DeRemer’s closing words said everything:

“The American people don’t deserve this.”

They don’t deserve their tax dollars stolen. They don’t deserve to fund terror groups through welfare fraud. They don’t deserve leaders who look the other way while criminals loot public programs.

The strike team is in Minnesota. The investigation is underway. And the billions in fraud that Tim Walz ignored are finally getting the scrutiny they deserve.

The American people are about to find out exactly what happened to their money.

And someone is going to answer for it.