An online clash broke out between British journalist Mehdi Hasan and US vice president JD Vance after Vance linked an alleged fraud case in Minnesota to immigration.Posting on X, Vance said a reported scam involving publicly funded daycare centres is due to the problems in the immigration system. “What’s happening in Minnesota is a microcosm of the immigration fraud in our system. Politicians like it because they get power. Welfare cheats like it because they get rich,” he said. He added that such schemes were “stealing both money and political power from Minnesotans”.
Hasan responded by accusing Vance of selective outrage. He pointed to US president Donald Trump’s recent decision to commute the sentence and drop the fine for David Gentile, a private equity executive involved in a $1.7 billion fraud case. “Anything to say about that?” Hasan said. He asked Vance in a sarcastic tone: “Or do you only oppose fraud carried out by Black people and immigrants?” The exchange comes amid the alleged fraud in Minnesota, where federal authorities have stepped up investigations. FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had “surged” resources and personnel to the state to crack down on large-scale fraud targeting federal welfare and social service programmes.Federal officials have described Minnesota’s Somali community as being at the centre of several major fraud cases involving millions of dollars in public funds. Immigrant rights groups have pushed back and accused the GOP administration of using fraud probes as a cover to unfairly target Somali immigrants. Patel said the FBI had already dismantled a $250 million scheme that diverted federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during the Covid pandemic. The investigation uncovered fake vendors, shell companies and money laundering. He added that more cases were under investigation and that some suspects could face denaturalisation or deportation proceedings.The controversy became more evident after YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video showing an allegedly inactive daycare centre that had received $4 million in state funds. The centre’s sign misspelled the word “learning” as “learing”, and no children were seen on site. A woman at the property was filmed shouting at Shirley and telling him to leave, fearing he was an immigration officer.The video was shared by Republican lawmakers and MAGA activists to show Blue regions as part of the problem.
