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Minnesota is finally seeing sunlight on a scandal that hardworking taxpayers have whispered about for years, and local reporter Liz Collin isn’t shy about saying the trail didn’t start last week. Collin revisited her own reporting and found a timeline of suspicious activity stretching back nearly a decade — proof that this was not an overnight problem but one allowed to fester under a complacent political class. Conservatives should celebrate honest local reporting that refuses to look the other way when our money is being stolen from kids and families.
The spark that lit the national fuse was a viral investigative video by citizen journalist Nick Shirley, who drove to supposed daycare and health sites and found empty buildings, misspelled signs, and a paper trail that did not match reality. That raw footage forced a broader look at programs and providers that had been quietly draining state coffers while elite media yawned. When independent journalists and local reporters do the work the mainstream won’t, the rest of the country finally wakes up to the truth.
Federal authorities have not ignored the uproar: the FBI and other agencies have reportedly surged resources into Minnesota as prosecutors piece together a sprawling fraud picture. This is no small-time theft — investigators say the earlier Feeding Our Future probe only scratched the surface and that agencies are expanding examinations into childcare, housing, and autism services. Americans deserve to know that when federal investigators show up, they’re doing the job Democrats in the governor’s office apparently let drift.
The Feeding Our Future matter itself was no garden-variety paperwork mess; it produced dozens of charges, guilty pleas, and convictions, and prosecutors have called what they found a web of sham vendors, shell companies, and brazen billing schemes. Those convictions should have been a wake-up call to state officials to tighten systems and close loopholes — instead, the scandal metastasized into new corners of the welfare state. If convictions didn’t prompt reform, it’s reasonable to ask why the people in power were asleep at the wheel.
Worse still, reporting now alleges billions siphoned from multiple programs — from bogus autism therapy claims to phantom housing services — money that was supposed to help the vulnerable but instead fattened fraudsters. Those explosive numbers mean this isn’t about a few bad actors but systemic failure: sloppy oversight, permissive regulators, and political choices that prioritized expansion of benefits over basic verification. For every dollar stolen here, there’s a Minnesotan who lost a daycare slot, a veteran who lost housing aid, or a taxpayer who watched their hard-earned money vanish.
Governor Tim Walz predictably went into defense mode as the story broke, insisting his administration has been working on fraud prevention for years while simultaneously facing fresh questions about why gaps remained. That is not enough for citizens who want accountability and results — words about audits and hiring more auditors ring hollow if the money keeps going out the door to non-existent programs. Political cover-ups and half-measures have consequences when taxpayer dollars are treated like Monopoly money.
This scandal lays bare two broader truths conservatives have warned about: unchecked expansion of welfare programs without rigorous oversight invites abuse, and mass migration policies that aren’t paired with assimilation and enforcement can create opportunities for exploitation. We must insist on policies that help refugees and immigrants succeed the right way, while also demanding ironclad verification, audits, and swift prosecutions when fraud is uncovered.
Now is the time for action: full forensic audits, public accounting of every program payout, prosecutions where the evidence is clear, and, where applicable, denaturalization and deportation for those who used our system to commit fraud. Liz Collin and other brave reporters did their jobs; it’s up to elected officials and law enforcement to finish theirs and restore faith that government will protect the American taxpayer.
