Media leaps to Somali fraudsters’ defense — but – Latest News
Multiple information shops are circling the wagons for Minnesota’s embattled and fraud-prone Somali diaspora, which is type of candy but additionally hilariously inept.
The effort covers all of the bases: downplaying the scandal, deploying the traditional “Republicans pounce” trope and even claiming Minnesota’s Somali group is essential to the native economic system.
The humorous factor is, the public relations marketing campaign is definitely doing more hurt than good.
Somali residents face growing criticism as federal investigators accuse members of stealing not less than $1 billion from Minnesota’s beneficiant welfare packages.
That’s simply what prosecutors have uncovered up to now.
The complete may very well be a lot increased.
Since 2022, 87 people, most of them Somali, have been charged in fraud schemes, main to 61 convictions.
It’s all fairly shameful, and up to date reporting by City Journal and others has caught President Donald Trump’s consideration.
His view of Somalia now mirrors his opinion of Haiti.
This brings us to the newest chapter within the story, through which newsrooms that performed no function in bringing the Minnesota fraud to national consideration launch a PR blitz within the Somalis’ defense.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune, for instance, claimed the fraud price tag touted by federal prosecutors is completely inaccurate: Members of the Somali diaspora possible stole solely $152 million, the paper huffed — earlier than acknowledging the whole quantity “is expected to grow as ongoing state and federal investigations into the state programs continue.”
Gee, with native protection this lax, it’s no surprise the fraud is on observe to be the worst within the state’s historical past.
Other information shops have fallen back on the acquainted tactic of specializing in reactions to the scandal quite than on the scandal itself.
You know this information trend effectively: It’s the “Republicans pounce” trope.
“The right wing has seized on fraud cases in the state,” reported the Guardian.
ABC News: “Trump has seized on the ballooning controversy in recent days …”
CNN received artistic and went with a “Republicans pounce”/sob-story twofer: “Anxiety grips Minneapolis’ Somali community as immigration agents zero in on the Twin Cities.”
That story doesn’t point out the huge fraud schemes till the twenty ninth paragraph — unintentionally alerting the reader to the minimization attempt, and making it clear who’s been guilty of trying the opposite method.
Meanwhile, a couple of newsrooms have taken a barely completely different strategy, arguing that the diaspora has been an outright financial boon to the North Star State.
NPR — talking of teams that like to hoover up public funds with little to show in return — aired a phase with a reporter from the Minnesota-based Sahan Journal to get to the underside of the fraud story: She assured listeners that the alleged, confirmed and pending frauds have been dedicated by solely a “small number of folks that don’t reflect the entire community.”
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The diaspora has “really helped support Minnesota’s growth and businesses,” the reporter concluded in her signoff, “increasing the population and helping a lot of other immigrant communities that are also here” — although her spiel included no information or figures.
Elsewhere on the native scene, a Minnesota ABC News affiliate took a comparable tack, this time with some onerous numbers, headlined: “Somali Minnesotans drive economic growth, pay $67M taxes annually.”
An accompanying social-media information blurb added some additional element: “Somali Minnesotans generate at least $500 million in income annually and pay about $67 million in state and local taxes.”
OK, but do you see how that really harms the Somalis’ case?
Let’s extrapolate the numbers: The US Census studies about 107,000 people of Somali descent in Minnesota; if we’re beneficiant and say that every one of them pays taxes, their per-capita state and native tax contribution is about $630.
Yet the average Minnesota taxpayer paid roughly $8,050 in state and native taxes in 2024 — and despatched $16,044 to the federal authorities, too.
With a median family income of simply $28,500, Minnesota’s Somalis pay little in federal taxes.
Members of the diaspora have an unemployment charge of roughly 11%, in contrast to the final state charge of 3.6%.
Then consider that not less than 46% of Minnesota’s Somali group lives under the federal poverty threshold, making them eligible for SNAP, Medicaid, sponsored housing and different public advantages.
They’re drawing legally from the state’s beneficiant welfare packages, but returning far much less to the state on average.
You know what?
I take it back.
Stick to the sob tales, of us.
If you’re out to do the Minnesota Somalis a stable, perhaps simply pump out your common fluff praising refugees and immigrants because the “fabric of our society” and such.
Better that than to by accident let slip how a lot they’re grabbing out of the pot with out placing a complete lot back in.
Becket Adams is a longtime journalist and media critic in Washington, DC.
