Posted on 10/13/2026 10:16:49 AM PDT by John Semmens
With estimates of the annual toll on taxpayers for welfare fraud now estimated to exceed $250 billion, an outraged President Trump is demanding that "Congress enact a law mandating prison sentences for individuals who are stealing this money from hard working Americans. I think if you steal from the American people, you should go to prison and for a long period of time. And the more you steal, the longer you'll stay in that prison."
"In addition, if a state or local politician knows about fraud and has the ability to stop it, but does nothing about it, they should be held personally liable for the full loss of the American taxpayers' money that they should have stopped and they should have saved," Trump added.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) called Trump's proposed new law "excessively harsh. Many of the recently discovered perpetrators of this fraud are foreign-born immigrants who are unfamiliar with American laws and customs. Further, as non-citizens they didn't have any say in electing the people who make the laws some Republicans now insist they must obey. Neither should state officials like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and myself be scapegoated merely for being in office when this tidal wave of fraud hit the country. I doubt the new Democrat majority that will take over in January will look favorably upon Trump's demands. More likely, Trump will be impeached for discriminating against these immigrants and maligning the public servants who were left holding the bag when the fraud was uncovered."
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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) called Trump’s proposed new law “excessively harsh. Many of the recently discovered perpetrators of this fraud are foreign-born immigrants who are unfamiliar with American laws and customs.
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You can’t make this stuff up
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) called Trump’s proposed new law “excessively harsh. Many of the recently discovered perpetrators of this fraud are foreign-born immigrants who are unfamiliar with American laws and customs.
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You can’t make this stuff up
Opps - satire is so close to reality
You had me until the third paragraph.
Honestly, it looks completely corrupt. I think the federal government needs out of welfare and food stamps. No funding from the fed, the states can do it locally. Same for Medicaid.
Social Security should be preserved. We can debate Medicare, but I am not sure how to turn that over to the states or to drain the retired anymore.
Congress needs to enact flexible tariffs, with the POTUS ability to discriminate for trade negotiations and conflicts.
1) “perpetrators of this fraud are foreign-born immigrants”
No immigrant whether illegal, legal or naturalized should be allowed to even apply for welfare. I strongly support those who come here, work, take care of their family and don’t don’t murder, rape...DUI, Drunk n Disorderly. But welfare and government benefits should never be offered immigrants.
2) Trump, Vance, RFK, OZ need to face the reality that most welfare fraud is not immigrants. It is white collar. Deloitte is the single biggest fraud. Many people in the welfare system, both recipients, providers and staff know this. Other Fraudsters know that it is the fraud and garbage data of the Deloitte software that makes much of the other fraud waste abuse inevitable.
Trump officials lose cred when they focus only on immigrants. Yes many immigrants are fraudulent. But that is not where the big money is.
South Florida has been the epicenter of Medicare fraud for years.
It is regrettable that the Trump administration has commuted or pardoned some of the biggest convicted offenders.
Philip Esformes is a former healthcare executive and nursing home mogul primarily known who orchestrated what the DOJ described as the largest healthcare fraud scheme in the country’s history involving about $1.3 billion dollars in fraudulent claims. He was convicted in 2019 for healthcare fraud, illegal kickbacks, bribery, and money laundering and sentenced to 20 years in prison. President Donald Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.
In January 2025, the President granted clemency to two dozen people, including Lawrence Duran, who was convicted in 2011for defrauding Medicare and money laundering, among other charges. Duran, who owned a mental health care company with seven locations across Florida received $87 million from the scheme. As the largest therapy-related Medicare fraud scheme in history, with hundreds of thousands of false claims. Duran was sentenced to 50 years in prison, and he and other collaborators were ordered to pay $87 million in restitution.
President Trump commuted Duran’s sentence and wrote in wrote in his clemency order that Duran would be subject to no further fines or restitution related to his case.
I would say that they should pay back the money they stole but that won’t ever happen
They get jail time equal to the time they defrauded the U.S. taxpayer
Scam a years worth of food stamps ?
Get a year in jail
Newscum doesn’t understand the concept of “ignorance of the law is no excuse”.
Also, his statement points out, unintended, that they shouldn’t be allowed in since they can’t follow the law.
“I’m just an immigrant. Your ways and laws confuse and frighten me”.
As to #1 - it is illegal for them to receive ANY government welfare.
Enforce the law. The Uniparty never does.
VERY BIG FAT CHANCE OF CONVICTING A DEMOCRAT. THEY TURN MURDERS LOOSE, WHY CONVICT SOMEONE GENERATING MONEY FOR THE PARTY.
I would rather we pull redundant organs while they are locked up and have the organs made available for productive US citizens.
There’s not enough land in the US to build all the prisons required , LOL
For fraud over $10M they should get the noose!
People who steal from “the Government” should be charged with one count of larceny for each taxpayer whose money was stolen.
Millions of counts, sentences served consecutively.
Prison for USA citizens convicted of fraud, the guillotine for anyone else ...
Make it happen. I voted for this.
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