Federal officials announced this week that nearly half of all immigrants in the greater Minneapolis area were found to have committed some form of immigration fraud.
The findings came during a September enforcement sweep and included cases involving sham marriages, falsified death certificates, and other schemes, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edley.
“But the revelation was no great surprise to those of us who have followed the settlement of some 100,000 Somali immigrants in Minnesota over the past three decades,” writes Scott Johnson for the New York Post.
In 2008, the State Department temporarily suspended a family reunification program used by Somali immigrants after DNA testing revealed that about 80 percent of claimed family relationships were not valid.
Officials have cited the episode as an example of persistent concerns over immigration fraud within the community.
“And when it comes to “bizarre schemes,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) serves as Exhibit A,” Johnson noted.
Omar (D-Minn.) has faced longstanding allegations that she married her brother in order to help him obtain legal status in the United States, accusations she has not directly addressed, Johnson added.
