A Somali lawmaker has accused his country’s government of serving as a “fraud pipeline”—a charge that comes as the Trump administration moves to end temporary protected status for thousands of Somalis living in the United States.
Dr. Abdillahi Hashi Abib, a sitting member of Somalia’s Parliament and its Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Daily Caller that the corruption now under federal investigation in Minnesota and across the United States is merely the “downstream result” of a system of graft deeply rooted in Somalia’s political culture.
“This corruption did not arise overnight,” Abib said. “It is an extension of the same criminal networks that have looted foreign aid in Somalia for decades — and now operate freely in the United States under the guise of charity and community development.”
Abib said his conclusions are based on both firsthand experience inside Somalia’s government and extensive data that he has attempted to share with U.S. agencies. In a 2023 letter titled A Sample of Somalia Government Fraud, Abib’s parliamentary committee detailed more than 400 gigabytes of data outlining itemized expenditures between July 2022 and June 2023. The report accused Somalia’s government of widespread illegal spending, including cash withdrawals without receipts, inflated travel expenses, and rigged contracts routed through family-owned businesses.
The report further alleged that the Central Bank of Somalia’s general manager engaged in tax evasion by reclassifying a quarter of his salary as “bonuses” to avoid paying income tax.
“As you are undoubtedly aware, corruption poses a significant threat to global economic growth, hinders development, undermines democracy, and provides fertile ground for criminal and terrorist activities,” the letter stated, faulting the Biden-Harris administration for failing to hold Somalia’s leadership accountable.
In a follow-up letter sent Sunday to Somalia’s auditor general, Abib accused the government of “systemic looting” of humanitarian aid — much of it funded by the United States. According to the letter, more than $3.5 billion in international assistance has flowed into Somalia since 2021, roughly 90% of it coming from U.S. taxpayers.
“Funds meant for humanitarian relief have been captured and monetized by family-run enterprises,” Abib wrote, naming senior officials within Somalia’s Disaster Management Agency. The letter alleged that three brothers of the agency’s chairman received $1.53 million in “consulting fees” registered under their wives’ names over 36 months, effectively transforming the agency into “a family-controlled criminal enterprise.”
“This is not incidental nepotism,” Abib wrote. “It is deliberate structural capture, designed to defeat oversight and facilitate theft.”
The letter also accused the chairman of purchasing luxury vehicles, foreign properties, and financing frequent international travel — despite having been “publicly known in 2022 to lack even the personal means to purchase a cup of coffee.”
“The Relief Department, which should be the last line of defense for starving citizens, has become the engine of food aid theft,” Abib warned.
His claims arrive as the Trump administration continues a sweeping crackdown on welfare and immigration fraud tied to Somali networks in Minnesota — a scandal prosecutors estimate may have cost taxpayers as much as $9 billion.
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali nationals, citing improved conditions in Somalia and the country’s responsibility to take back its citizens.
“Temporary means temporary,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
Under the order, Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the United States by March 17.
According to sources at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), there are 2,471 Somali nationals currently in the country under TPS, with an additional 1,383 pending applications. Roughly 600 Somalis with protected status reside in Minnesota, where federal investigations have already uncovered rampant fraud within the Feeding Our Future and related welfare programs.
“The days of the U.S. government writing blank checks to broken regimes are over,” one senior administration official said. “We are holding both foreign governments and domestic beneficiaries accountable — and that includes Somalia.”
