Rep. Brandon Gill grills witnesses over staggering welfare stats among Somalis in Minnesota

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Friday, January 09, 2026

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, grilled witnesses during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday about the staggering statistics of welfare among the Somali community in Minnesota.

During the hearing that featured several Minnesota state lawmakers and addressed the allegations of widespread social services fraud in the state, Gill cited government statistics as he issued rapid-fire questions to Democrat witness Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor.

"Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?" he asked, to which Ballou replied, "Certainly stronger."

NEW: Rep. Brandon Gill shuts down witness Brendan Ballou with fact after fact after he claimed Somalis are "strengthening" Minnesota.

Gill: "Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?"

Ballou: "Certainly stronger."

Gill: "Do you know what percentage… pic.twitter.com/YdcbyMBh6R

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 7, 2026

Gill went on to interrogate Ballou regarding what percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps, a statistic Ballou did not know, but which Gill noted is 54%.

"Do you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households?" Gill asked, before quickly noting it's only 7%.

Ballou was also unaware what percentage of Somali households in Minnesota are on Medicaid, but Gill told him it's 73%, which he contrasted with 18% of non-Somali households.

Regarding welfare, Gill said, 81% of Somali immigrant households in Minnesota are receiving it, and that 78% of them remain on welfare even after 10 years. Only about half of working-age Somali immigrants who have been in the U.S. for a decade or more "speak English very well," Gill also noted.

"Doesn't sound like something that makes our country stronger to me. And I think most Americans would agree with me on that," Gill said.

When Ballou attempted to explain that many of the Somali community in Minnesota were born in the U.S., Gill said, "Nevertheless, the welfare usage is astoundingly different."

Gill's line of questioning drew an accusation of xenophobia from Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md.

"Asking their opinion, 'What is your opinion of Somalians?' We might as well say, 'What is your opinion of Jews? What is your opinion of black people? What is your opinion of Latinos?'" Mfume said.

During another point in the hearing, Gill asked Minnesota state Rep. Walter Hudson, a Republican, if the Somali population is "an important demographic for Democrats to win over politically."

"Unquestionably," Hudson said, who also agreed with Gill's suggestion that turning a blind eye to fraud in Minnesota's Somali community came with "a political incentive" for the state's Democratic leaders.

Fraud in Minnesota wasn’t an accident.

It overwhelmingly benefited Democrats, and the Walz administration covered it up. pic.twitter.com/I8V0sT9Yif

— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) January 8, 2026

Minnesota and Minneapolis have been front-and-center in the national spotlight in recent weeks amid allegations of widespread fraud among its childcare centers, many of which are run by the Somali immigrant community.

The story prompted special attention last month after independent journalist Nick Shirley went viral for a video in which he visited licensed daycare centers in the Minneapolis area that appeared vacant despite receiving millions in taxpayer funds — such as $1.9 million to "Quality Learing [sic] Center," which has since closed.

During a press briefing at the White House on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt assured that the Trump administration is taking an "all-hands-on-deck" approach to tackle allegations of fraud in Minnesota and other states, and that prosecutors have already issued over 1,700 subpoenas.

"When it comes to Minnesota, the fraud that we have seen, the wide scale of fraud, is really remarkable. It's egregious," she said, adding that the effort to combat fraud spans multiple departments of the federal government.

"Rest assured, this is an all-hands-on-deck effort from the entire administration to get to the bottom of this and to ensure that the ripping off of taxpayers in the state of Minnesota — and it won't just be Minnesota, it will be any state across this country where fraud has taken place, and we are protecting law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens," she said.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 98 defendants in Minnesota fraud-related cases, 85 of whom are of Somali descent and 64 of whom have been convicted.

Tensions in Minneapolis boiled over Wednesday after Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by an ICE agent after she allegedly attempted to run him over with her vehicle after obstructing traffic.

Federal authorities have claimed that the shooting was self-defense, while state officials have alleged that the unarmed Good was unjustly killed by the agent as she was trying to flee.