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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is requiring Minnesota to conduct recertifications for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in four counties amid a probe over a massive welfare fraud that has cost taxpayers at least $1 billion.
In a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Rollins demanded the state participate in a pilot program to root out fraud and abuse.
“As part of the recertification process, ensure SNAP households in Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, and Wright counties meet all eligibility requirements for SNAP, including by accounting for the income and resources of any excluded household members, conducting in-person interviews, and using federal eligibility tools like the improved, cost-free Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program database,” she wrote.
“Upon review of the information obtained during the recertification process, make determinations as to eligibility of SNAP benefits for each SNAP household in Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, and Wright counties and unenroll any ineligible households,” she added.
INSIDE MINNESOTA’S $1B FRAUD: FAKE OFFICES, PHONY FIRMS AND A SCANDAL HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins is cracking down on any fraudulent usage of the SNAP program. In a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, she demanded that the state recertify SNAP recipients in four counties. (iStock/Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
SNAP benefits recertification typically requires recipients to provide documentation showing they are eligible for the program.
In the past, Rollins alleged that hundreds of thousands of deceased people were receiving SNAP benefits and that some were getting benefits more than once.
The move came amid a scandal during Walz’s watch in which nonprofits like Feeding Our Future, primarily in the Somali community, allegedly defrauded taxpayers of at least $1 billion.
OMAR ACCUSED BY GOP OPPONENT OF OPENING UP THE DOOR TO MASSIVE MINNEAPOLIS FRAUD: ‘DEEP, DEEP TIES’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is under fire amid a massive fraud scandal in his state. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)
On Monday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon urged Walz to resign over the fraud. She said her agency uncovered a scheme in which “ghost students” in Minnesota that left Riverland Community College averaging more than 100 potentially fraudulent applications per year.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, provides federal food aid to more than 40 million Americans each month. (Fox News) (Olivianna Calmes)
“We call these fraudsters ‘ghost students’ because they were not ID-verified and often did not live in the United States, or they simply did not exist,” McMahon wrote. “In Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans. They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest — without attending the college at all.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the governor’s office.