Decades of lax immigration policy have resulted in widespread welfare fraud in the U.S., robbing taxpayers of billions of dollars, but President Donald Trump is equipping the Justice Department to target abuse and protect Americans’ investments in state and federal programs. Vice President J.D. Vance announced Thursday that the White House is creating a new role in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), an assistant attorney general (AAG) responsible for investigating and prosecuting fraud across the country, answering directly to the president and vice president.

“We are creating a new assistant attorney general position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” Vance shared in a press conference. “That person’s efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort, because, unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way.”

“If you’re a young parent struggling to afford child care in the United States of America, there are programs that we have to make it easier for your kids to get in day care, for your kids to get in preschool,” Vance explained. “Those programs should go to American citizens, not be defrauded by Somali immigrants and others, making it hard for you to get the access to the resources you need,” he continued.

Minnesota’s large Somali immigrant community has become the focal point for fraud investigations in recent months, but the vice president noted that bad actors across the nation have defrauded the federal government and various state governments of billions of dollars through abuse of welfare programs. “We know that the fraud isn’t just happening in Minneapolis. It’s also happening in states like Ohio, it’s happening in states like California.”

In a recent example, Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warning of potential fraud affecting child care and nutrition programs in his state. “Washington families deserve to know their tax dollars are paying for real meals and real care, not padding the pockets of scammers,” Baumgartner wrote.

“Minnesota is a cautionary tale for every state: when state authorities fast-track welfare payments with weak front-end controls and lax enforcement, fraudsters will pounce,” he continued. The congressman clarified that he is not alleging wrongdoing on the part of Washington’s state government, but is seeking “independent confirmation that Washington’s safeguards are working, and if they are not, fix the problems now rather than after a headline-grabbing scandal.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab, who was involved in prosecuting the Feeding Our Future fraud cases in Minnesota, lauded the creation of a new fraud division as “a great idea.” He added, “It’s sad that it’s necessary, but I applaud President Trump and his administration for coming up with that idea.” He continued, “It’s really a shame that hard-earned taxpayer money was just wasted on these fraudsters who just spent millions and millions of dollars to support their lavish lifestyles and took money that was meant to go to feed hungry kids and support people finding housing and such.”

“The fraud in Minnesota was widespread. It was a deep rot. It is a deep rot,” Teirab observed, relying on his four years of experience as an assistant U.S. attorney in Minnesota. “The checks and balances in these programs didn’t work. They were designed to be based on the honor system, and a lot of folks had no virtue and so [they] just stole money. It has to stop, so it’s good that there’s now this new anti-fraud unit,” he continued.

Teirab pointed to the Feeding Our Future case as an example of the rampant fraud committed in Minnesota. “That was the big investigation and prosecution of — now it’s over 70 individuals who stole money from the federal child nutrition program, basically said that they were feeding kids, and it was all a lie. They stole over $250 million,” he recounted. “Now we know that was really just the tip of the iceberg. Now, there [are] all other kinds of fraud that the federal government has charged individuals for.”

A White House fact sheet released Thursday detailed the purpose and responsibilities of the DOJ’s new anti-fraud division. “To combat the rampant and pervasive problem of fraud in the United States, the DOJ’s new division for national fraud enforcement will enforce the Federal criminal and civil laws against fraud targeting Federal government programs, Federally funded benefits, businesses, nonprofits, and private citizens nationwide,” the White House clarified. “The Assistant Attorney General for this new division will be responsible for leading the Department’s efforts to investigate, prosecute, and remedy fraud affecting the Federal government, Federally funded programs, and private citizens.”

The anti-fraud AAG will be responsible for managing multi-district and multi-district fraud investigations, aiding other federal prosecutors with fraud cases, and working with multiple law enforcement agencies and federal entities “to identify, disrupt, and dismantle organized and sophisticated fraud schemes across jurisdictions.”

“They’re going to investigate fraud where it should be investigated. So you’re going to have wrongdoers being held accountable and, hopefully, taxpayer money going back into public coffers. That’s a good thing,” Teirab commented of the anti-fraud division’s responsibilities. He also noted that the resources available to the anti-fraud division will effectively supercharge fraud investigations and prosecutions nationwide. “This is way more ability for the federal government to investigate and prosecute widespread fraud and other kinds of crimes,” Teirab noted. “I was a state prosecutor for a while and then a federal prosecutor, and there’s just a big difference in the amount of resources that you can bring to bear in these investigations and prosecutions. So you’re going to deter crime and fraud.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) and state Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) have both been implicated in the Somali immigrant-run fraud schemes fleecing Minnesota’s welfare programs and federal tax dollars. Numerous reports and witnesses have charged Walz and other Minnesota Democrats with knowingly and willingly turning a blind eye to fraud, refusing to investigate or prosecute fraud, and even silencing and threatening whistleblowers, auditors, and investigators.

Teirab expressed his hope that the federal anti-fraud unit is “going to incentivize state actors to get off their butts and actually do something to stop fraud.” He continued, “So now Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, instead of sitting on their hands, they might have a little bit more of an incentive, hopefully politically and literally, to actually do something if they know that the federal government might come in and make them look bad for not getting the job done.” Teirab added, “That’s clearly what’s happened here. I mean, they don’t look good because they didn’t do a good job.”