Free Republic

The Most Socialist System in America Is the One Feeding Us—and It’s FailingAmerica loves to debate socialism. We argue about universal healthcare, guaranteed income, student loan forgiveness, and government dependency. We pride ourselves on our rugged independence and belief in free markets. We warn that socialism destroys innovation, freedom, and personal responsibility. But here’s the uncomfortable truth most Americans never stop to consider: the most centrally planned, government-dependent, subsidy-driven system in the United States isn’t medicine, housing, or energy—it’s food.Our food system is not a free market. It is not capitalism in any recognizable form. It is a government-engineered economy...

Somali colonists have stolen as much as $9 billion from US taxpayers in Minnesota alone. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Combining open borders with the welfare state has predictably produced the largest looting spree the world has ever seen. Consider Afghans. Via Breitbart: Census data shows that almost all Afghan households with children are on publicly funded welfare — similar to that of Somali immigrant households with children in Minnesota, where 81 percent of such households are on at least one form of welfare. Eighty-five percent of Afghan households with children are on welfare. The more offspring...

Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau publishes the Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. This is the country’s only source for state and local spending data, allowing a detailed state-by-state comparison. The survey also divides spending data into categories, making it possible to analyze which public services states prioritize. Overall, public welfare is the largest expenditure for most states. However, the level at which states prioritize assistance programs over other public services, such as roads and police, differs. Minnesota, for instance, has a massive welfare system, dedicating a larger share of its revenue to assistance programs than most...

The overwhelming majority of households headed by Afghan immigrants with children in the home are on one or more forms of taxpayer-funded welfare in the United States, newly released analysis reveals. The analysis, published by Jason Richwine at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), reviews Census Bureau data on Afghan immigrants in the U.S. — an immigrant group that has exploded from just 22,000 in 1990 to almost a quarter of a million as of 2024.Most significantly, the Census data shows that almost all Afghan households with children are on publicly funded welfare — similar to that of Somali immigrant...

Two Boston men were arrested and charged with fraud that authorities say raked in so much Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) money that their tally began to outpace legitimate supermarkets. The men — Antonio Bonheur, 74, and Saul Alisme, 21 — allegedly operated their scams out of two small variety stores in the Mattapan neighborhood, according to the Department of Justice (1). Despite their small size and limited food offerings, these stores allegedly reported extremely high SNAP redemption volumes that went “far beyond what could reasonably be supported by legitimate food sales.” “To be certain, these were not supermarkets. They...

According to Census data from 2022, Wisconsin has the 25th highest percentage of single-parent households among the states and the District of Columbia. The Badger Institute has published several reports and news articles about family structure in Wisconsin and how it has changed over time: A piece by Marie Rohde in 2018 discussed why both older and younger people are deciding to stay single.A piece by Michael Jahr accompanied both those, showing how the idea of marriage is now becoming a foreign concept to some.We published a policy brief in 2019 on the marriage penalty in Wisconsin’s earned income tax...

@SenRandPaul I just introduced the End Welfare for Non-Citizens Act to ensure taxpayer-funded benefits are reserved for Americans. This bill ends federal funding for programs like TANF, Medicaid, and SNAP for illegal immigrants, refugees, asylees, and new entrants. A recent massive fraud scheme—estimated by federal prosecutors to reach $9 billion, shows exactly why we must do more to protect American taxpayers from theft and abuse. Safeguarding public funds is more urgent than ever. The fraud involved dozens of individuals—many from Minnesota’s Somali community, who set up businesses and non-profits claiming to provide housing, food, or healthcare assistance, then billed federally...

A US asylum seeker has been living in Britain with free accommodation and benefits for more than a year in the first case of its kind. The man, from Las Vegas, fled to the UK claiming he was being persecuted because he is black, Jewish and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – the Mormon Church. He was put up in migrant hotels before his claim was rejected last summer. However, he has not been removed from the UK, and subsequently he was allowed to claim thousands of pounds in accommodation, food and state support....

The State Department has announced a sweeping pause on immigrant visa processing for applicants from 75 countries, effective January 21. This decision comes as the administration ramps up efforts to enforce long-standing rules against admitting individuals likely to depend on public benefits. Officials cite the need to overhaul screening processes that have allowed potential abusers of taxpayer-funded programs to slip through in the past. *** The affected nations include Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand, and Yemen, among others. Consular officers have been directed to deny visas under existing law, with only narrow exceptions after thorough public...

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from withholding $80 million to administer Minnesota's food stamp program while the state reviews the eligibility of 100,000 households amid claims ​of widespread fraud.

The Trump administration has taken action in response to Minnesota's decade-long social services fraud scandal, which could cost taxpayers $9 billion. The U.S. Agriculture Department announced a freeze on $129 million in food stamp funding for Minnesota. This move is part of the administration's broader effort to address welfare fraud in Democratic states. The Government Accountability Office estimates that the federal government loses up to $521 billion annually to fraud. Last week, Vice President J.D. Vance announced a Justice Department task force to investigate fraud nationwide. "Those programs should go to American citizens, not be defrauded by Somali immigrants and...

With evidence emerging of more than $9 billion worth of taxpayer fraud in Minnesota, the media are finally starting to cover the problem of criminals stealing from the taxpayer. But fraud is by no means limited to Minnesota—it is a nationwide problem that leaders at both the federal and state levels need to tackle before it gets even worse. Even the New York Times was forced to take notice, publishing an explosive article showing evidence of more than $1 billion of taxpayer money stolen by about 80 different Somali immigrants to Minnesota. Just days after the Minnesota story broke, a...

According to a global survey of 130 countries conducted in 2019 (Kramer 2019), the US had the highest rate of children living in single-parent households of any nation in the world, at about 23%, or more than three times the worldwide level of 7% (Figure 1).The prevalence of these cases was markedly lower in neighboring Canada and Mexico (15% and 7%, respectively), and much lower in developing countries, all below 5%.For decades, the share of U.S. children living with a single parent has been rising, accompanied by a decline in marriage rates and a rise in births outside marriage (Livingston...

PITTSBURGH — Two Pittsburgh business owners are accused of stealing food benefits and turning them into profit. Investigators with the Attorney General’s office call it a fencing operation, where someone buys and resells stolen goods for profit. On Monday, the AG’s office issued a warrant for the arrest of a husband and wife who were reportedly stealing from the federal government. “You’re robbing from the taxpayer that’s working so hard,” Mike Ichimura said. Shoppers like Ichimura were shocked to hear Munir Chaudhri and Rachna Anwar are accused of coming to Sam’s Club on Mount Nebo Road to use stolen EBT...

The founder of an infamous Minnesota-based nonprofit convicted of hatching a $250 million welfare fraud scheme was ordered by a judge last week to forfeit her Porsche, designer handbags and millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. Aimee Bock, the 44-year-old mastermind behind the Feeding our Future scandal, was found guilty in March on federal charges of wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy in connection to the nation’s largest COVID-19 fraud scheme. Bock, who along with dozens of predominantly Somali co-conspirators pilfered pandemic relief funds from a federal program meant to feed hungry children in need, is awaiting sentencing for her lead...

President Donald Trump shared a chart on social media this week showing welfare usage rates among immigrant households in the United States. The chart, titled “Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin,” lists the percentage of immigrant households receiving public assistance, broken down by country or region of birth. According to the data shown, approximately 72 percent of Somali-born households in the US receive some form of government welfare, placing Somalia among the highest-listed countries on the chart. Other groups shown with high welfare participation rates include households from Bhutan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and several African, Middle Eastern, and...

Unfazed by the scandal in Minnesota, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) is now proposing an even grander program for her state, saying "the biggest problem with what went on in Minnesota is that it was too narrowly focused on needy families. Starting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan for universal government-provided daycare for all children--poor and rich alike--we will make this benefit an entitlement for all. Ideally, the government should pay for everyone's needs while each individual contributes taxes according to their abilities." The initial estimate of the cost to fund Mamdani's vision is said to be $6 billion....

Taurasi wanted the WNBA to show the girls the money.Diana Taurasi has been one of the WNBA’s most elite players for two decades. The problem was that she was never paid like one. That’s why the 2009 MVP hopes to see the best women’s basketball players receive the compensation they deserve when the next collective bargaining agreement takes effect. “I always thought about I should’ve get paid for being the best basketball player in the world, not for doing social media or doing commercials,” Taurasi told Front Office Sports back in August. “That was one of the things I...

Federal Medicaid policy creates little incentive for states to stop potential fraudsters. Fixing that should be the priority, not demonizing Somali immigrants.A sprawling welfare scheme that saw fraudsters steal over $9 billion in Minnesota is a damning indictment of a federal and state bureaucracy that failed at some of its most basic responsibilities to taxpayers. That fraud is back at the top of the news this week after YouTuber Nick Shirley went viral with a 42-minute video in which he claims to be "investigating" the fraud scandal. In the video, Shirley knocks on the doors of several day care centers...

Posted on December 27, 2025 by Bill Glahn in Crime, Illegal immigration, Judiciary Rule No. 4 I spent countless hours in 2025 sitting in the back of federal courtrooms in Minnesota observing two types of cases play out: illegal immigration and welfare fraud. The one thing that both had in common was the application of Saul Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals Rule No. 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” It’s a distillation of the Cloward-Piven “overwhelm the system” strategy. Federal bureaucracy was designed to handle a system where we had a few thousand illegal immigrants...