Federal agents raid 22 Minnesota locations in welfare fraud probe

Federal agents fanned out across the Twin Cities and other Minnesota sites, executing 22 search warrants at businesses, child-care centers and autism-service providers in a fraud probe that is testing how well public money is tracked once it leaves state and federal coffers. Officials said no arrests were reported at the time of the raids.

The Justice Department described the operation as court-authorized work tied to an ongoing fraud investigation, and multiple agencies were involved, including the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation and state and local investigators. The Minnesota Department of Human Services said some of the targets were autism service providers that received Medicaid payments, putting the case squarely in the arena of anti-poverty and disability spending where oversight failures can leave vulnerable families exposed.

The scale of the search effort suggests investigators believe the alleged scheme may be broad enough to require coordinated action across multiple locations rather than a single isolated case. At least 10 day care centers and five autism centers were among the locations searched, according to local and national reporting, underscoring how deeply the probe reached into programs that are supposed to pay for care, not enrich intermediaries. Officials stressed that the operation was not tied to immigration enforcement, an important distinction in Minnesota, where federal immigration crackdowns have drawn fierce criticism.

The raids also landed in a politically charged environment. President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast Minnesota as a center of fraud and has tied the state’s Somali American and Somali immigrant communities to high-profile scandals. Vice President JD Vance, who is leading a fraud task force at the president’s direction, said the administration would be “relentless” in exposing fraudsters, signaling that the White House wants visible results from its anti-waste campaign. The White House created the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud on March 16, giving the effort a formal platform in Washington.

The case follows the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, which the Justice Department said had produced 63 convictions scheme-wide as of March 2026, the largest number in a single fraud investigation in recent memory for the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s Office. Gov. Tim Walz said the raids happened because state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it, while Minnesota House Republican leaders praised the operation and urged prosecutors to pursue people stealing from essential programs. The next phase of the investigation could bring charges, funding reviews and sharper scrutiny of the contractors and nonprofits entrusted with taxpayer money.