(Bloomberg) — US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that she was suspending federal benefit program funding to Minnesota and Minneapolis over allegations of widespread fraud in social service programs operating in the state.
“Today, @USDA is SUSPENDING FEDERAL FINANCIAL AWARDS to Minnesota and Minneapolis, effective immediately, until sufficient proof has been provided that the fraud has stopped,” she said in a post on X late Friday night.
The post included a letter addressed to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, informing them of her decision.
“The widespread and systemic fraud associated with federal benefit programs in the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis demonstrate an inability to handle federal resources without additional oversight and accountability measures in place,” Rollins wrote in the letter.
She said the suspended funds amounted to $129 million.
The Department of Agriculture runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as food stamps.
The announcement was made as widespread protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement intensified after an ICE agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Earlier: Blue States Keep $10 Billion in US Child Care Aid for Now
Federal agents began arriving in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area in early December under what ICE called “Operation Metro Surge.”
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate, earlier this week ended his reelection campaign over the burgeoning fraud scandal in the state’s welfare system.
Earlier Friday, Minnesota, New York, California and two other Democratic-led states won a court order temporarily blocking the US government from slashing $10 billion in aid for child-care programs that serve vulnerable children and families.
