Tag: taxes

Justice Department Quietly Reverses Clinton-Era Rule On Immigrant Welfare Benefits

For almost 30 years, a key part of America’s 1996 welfare reform laws has existed mostly on paper after the Clinton DOJ effectively nullified it with a loophole. Now, the Trump DOJ says it’s time to enforce those laws as Congress originally wrote them.

Earlier this week, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel quietly reversed a Clinton-era legal opinion that had sharply limited when immigrants could be denied federal welfare benefits. The earlier interpretation narrowed the law so much, critics say, that it allowed many immigrants – including some who were not lawfully eligible – to continue receiving benefits Congress intended to restrict.

The new DOJ opinion restores a broader reading of the law, potentially expanding waiting periods for benefits, strengthening sponsor repayment requirements, and closing loopholes that have existed since the late 1990s.

What Congress Intended in 1996

In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) along with major immigration reforms. The message was straightforward: immigrants should be self-sufficient, public benefits should not encourage immigration, and American taxpayers should not be responsible for supporting new arrivals.

To enforce those goals, Congress created several rules:

  • Most lawful permanent residents were barred from receiving “means-tested” federal benefits during their first five years in the U.S.
  • Family members who sponsored immigrants had to sign legally binding affidavits promising to support them.
  • If a sponsored immigrant received certain benefits, the government could seek reimbursement from the sponsor.
  • When agencies evaluated eligibility for benefits, they were required to count the sponsor’s income as part of the immigrant’s resources.

Congress defined “federal public benefit” broadly but never formally defined the term “federal means-tested public benefit.” That gap would become critical.

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Secretary of State Rubio Confirms ENDING NGO ‘Foreign Aid Industrial Complex’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it very clear that the days of NGOs, an integral part of the ‘Foreign Aid Industrial Complex’, sending aid often in direct opposition to America’s priorities, are over.

Rubio told reporters, “Foreign aid should be used for the purpose of furthering the national interest. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about human rights. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about starvation. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about hunger. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about humanitarian need.”

“What it does mean, however, is that even foreign aid, which is NOT charity – it is an act of the US taxpayer.”

In July, Rubio signaled the changes when he announced that USAID would no longer send foreign assistance across the globe.

Rubio noted that USAID had, for decades, failed to ensure the programs it funded actually supported America’s interests.

The State Department took over foreign assistance programs beginning on July 1.

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FBI Raids Somali-Owned ‘Health Services’ Business in Minnesota as Medicaid Fraud Exceeds $9 Billion

The FBI on Thursday raided a Somali-owned ‘health services’ business in Bloomington, Minnesota, after the Health and Human Services Department flagged it for fraud.

FBI agents were spotted carrying boxes out of Somali-owned Ultimate Home Health Services.

Fox 9 reported:

FBI agents raided the offices of a Bloomington business on Thursday, days after the State of Minnesota suspended a business license at that address citing fraud.

A FOX 9 crew witnessed FBI agents and other federal investigators carrying boxes from a business in a plaza off 17th Avenue South near Old Shakopee Road East. The business is located in a suite next to a pizza shop, an Asian market, and a laundry mat.

Inside the building, there was damage to a door belonging to Ultimate Home Health Services which appeared to have been forced open.

A letter dated Dec. 5 shows the Department of Human Services had suspended the license for Ultimate Home Health Services, a home and community-based service, citing the risk of fraud.

“This immediate suspension is based on a determination that persons served by your program are at an imminent risk of harm and because the holder and controlling individual are the subjects of a pending administrative action related to fraud against the program which is administered by a state agency,” the letter states.

The letter goes on to say that the state determined clients for the business were not required services, a client who died hadn’t been reported, and staff had provided false information to DHS licensors. The letter also states that the license holder is already facing administrative action for fraud against the program.

Assistant US Attorney Joe Thompson on Thursday said the Somali fraud may have ballooned to $18 billion.

“The fraud is not small. It isn’t isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated,” Thompson said.

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U.S. Approves Largest-Ever Military Package for Taiwan — $11 Billion in Precision Weapons

The Trump administration has approved one of its largest-ever arms packages for Taiwan, with total sales valued at up to $11 billion.

The move is intended to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against China, but it is almost certain to provoke anger in Beijing.

The package covers a wide range of weapons and systems, including missiles, drones, artillery, and advanced battlefield software.

The most significant item is the HIMARS rocket system, which has played a major role in Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

Taiwan will also receive self-propelled howitzers and a new digital command network that allows military units to share real-time information during operations.

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Trump HUD Hunts Down Fraud in Colorado: 221 Dead People Were Getting Housing

Ready for another exciting episode of “Rampant Welfare Fraud Costs the Taxpayers Billions?” Well, here we are; this time it’s Colorado, and the fraud has to do with housing assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Investigators have uncovered 221 people receiving federal housing assistance who have no business receiving it, unless one can consider a coffin or an urn “housing.” 

That’s right. 221 dead people, out of almost 3,000 people in Colorado who were improperly receiving benefits from HUD.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is investigating whether Colorado providers helped nearly 3,000 people swindle taxpayer money from Uncle Sam, The Post has learned.

The investigation comes after an internal HUD audit found that benefits were granted to 221 dead people, while another 87 were otherwise ineligible.

The department also said that another 2,519 beneficiaries will need to undergo additional verification.

Here’s the question: Were these just mistakes, the results of bad record-keeping, or deliberate fraud? Not that either is exactly a comfortable finding; when the answer is either criminality or gross incompetence, the taxpayers take a bath either way. And HUD is calling this apparent fraud.

“From deceased tenants to individuals receiving HUD housing benefits who were never supposed to, the Department has questions for HUD-supported housing providers in Colorado, and we expect prompt answers and enforcement action,” a HUD spokesperson told The Post.

The apparent fraud took place in most of the Rocky Mountain State’s 59 public housing agencies (PHAs) and was particularly pronounced in the Denver Housing Authority, a source said.

HUD officials are set to demand PHAs perform additional verification of beneficiaries and remove both deceased tenants and ineligible beneficiaries from their rolls.

And what else is going to happen?

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“Fraud tourists” traveled to Minnesota after a friend told them state programs were “a good opportunity to make money,” prosecutors say

Federal prosecutors announced new indictments Thursday in the widening Minnesota fraud scandal, this time involving two Philadelphia-based men accused of traveling to Minneapolis after a friend told them the taxpayer-funded programs there presented “a good opportunity to make money.”

Anthony Waddell Jefferson and Lester Brown are accused of siphoning millions from federally funded programs administered by Minnesota officials that were meant to help people with disabilities and those suffering from addiction.

Unlike many of the individuals previously caught up in the state’s sprawling fraud scandal, they don’t appear to have ties to Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. Prosecutors say they don’t appear to have ties to Minnesota at all.

“Minnesota has become a magnet for fraud, so much so that we have developed a fraud tourism industry — people coming to our state purely to exploit and defraud its programs,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson, who brought the new charges. “This is a deeply unsettling reality that all Minnesotans should understand.”

Court filings allege the men submitted up to $3.5 million in “fake and inflated bills” for Medicaid reimbursements after they set up a company intended to provide housing and other services to individuals who qualified for the program. They allegedly fleeced the housing program in Minnesota despite “living on the other side of the country and having no network in or connections to Minnesota or its communities.” 

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Haitians Allegedly Bilked Taxpayers Out Of Millions In SNAP Scam

United States Attorney Leah Foley of the District of Massachusetts announced Wednesday that two Haitian immigrants to the United States were facing food stamp fraud charges.

Antonio Bonheur, 74, of Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, of Hyde Park, were each indicted on a single count of food stamp fraud over a scheme that bilked over $7 million in benefits from two bodegas in the Boston area, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) release. Foley described how the bodega owners ripped off taxpayers during a press conference.

“These defendants exchanged SNAP benefits for cash, which they pocketed. Bohneur, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti, owned the Jesula Variety Store. Alisme, a lawful permanent resident also from Haiti, owned the Saul Mache Mixe Store,” Foley told reporters. “These two businesses were co-located within a single storefront in Boston. To be certain, these were not supermarkets. They were not full-service groceries. It would be a huge stretch to even call them convenience stores.”

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Tor Project received $2.5M from the US government to bolster privacy

The US government contributed over $2.5 million to the Tor Project in its 2023–2024 fiscal year, marking a continued but reduced financial relationship with the privacy-focused nonprofit.

The funds represent 35% of Tor’s $7.28 million in reported revenue, according to newly released financial disclosures.

The funding, primarily sourced through the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), supports multiple high-impact projects aimed at strengthening internet freedom, especially in regions experiencing heavy censorship. The largest single contributor was DRL, providing $2.12 million. These funds were allocated across several major initiatives, including expanding Tor access in China, Hong Kong, and Tibet; developing a Tor-based VPN client for Android; combating malicious Tor relays; and migrating core network infrastructure to a more secure Rust-based implementation (Arti).

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‘German’ Globalist Authoritarianism: Berlin Migrant Housing Costs Skyrocket to Nearly €1 Billion, Tripling Since 2020

Berlin—Germany’s far-left globalist capital—has seen its migrant housing bill explode, becoming a symbol of everything Germans, particularly the AfD, warned about but which most chose to ignore.

Newly released government figures have revealed the capital spent nearly €900 million ($9.8 million) in 2024 alone to house migrants, many of which do not have any kind of status in the country, almost triple the cost from just four years earlier, Die Welt reports.

Internal Senate data confirms that accommodation expenses for foreign nationals reached €883 million last year, compared with €312 million in 2020, an increase of 183%.
The numbers expose the real cost of mass migration policies pushed by Berlin’s left-liberal globalist political class.

Mega-sites like Tegel and Tempelhof have become financial black holes for German workers. Tegel alone swallowed roughly €260 million ($280 million) in 2024, more than many German cities spend on public services altogether.

These costs arrive as Berlin plunges deeper into debt and slashes funding elsewhere—and as other German cities are headed toward insolvency, according to some sources. Universities, cultural institutions, transport projects, and basic city services are all being cut to patch a budget hole nearing €3 billion.

Between 2022 and 2025, total spending on migrant accommodation, care, and so-called integration nearly doubled to €2.24 billion. At one point, city leaders even discussed declaring a financial emergency to unlock special loans to cover the costs.

Now the ruling, anti-European, globalist CDU–SPD coalition claims the costs are “manageable,” setting aside up to €870 million annually in reserve funds for 2026 and 2027, while German pensioners go broke and middle-class lifestyles are increasingly out of reach for young people. For ordinary Germans facing rent hikes and service cuts, that reassurance rings hollow, obviously.

For years, Berlin prioritized migrant housing while native citizens were priced out of their own neighborhoods. Luxury container villages and converted hotels appeared, enriching owners willing to make shady government deals, while Germans sat quietly in line for the ever-shrinking social housing stock.

Only recently has the globalist, anti-German coalition paused plans for new migrant facilities, quietly admitting the system is destroying the German taxpayer. This comes after approving projects like a container complex for over 1,000 asylum seekers just months earlier.

There is one statistic officials now eagerly highlight, claiming new arrivals dropped in 2024. Berlin took in ‘just’ over 21,000 migrants last year, about a third fewer than in 2023.
That decline continued into 2025, with roughly 11,700 arrivals recorded by October. But even with fewer newcomers, the financial burden remains crushing. The damage has been done.

As of mid-November, nearly 37,000 people were still housed in state-run migrant facilities. They occupy emergency shelters, container units, dormitories, hotels, hostels, and former office buildings across the city.

Meanwhile, homelessness among Germans is rising, and working families are being pushed out of urban housing markets. The false promise that mass immigration would pay for itself has collapsed under the weight of hard numbers.

Public opinion is shifting fast, and voters are no longer buying the slogans. Polls show growing resistance to both legal and illegal immigration nationwide.

The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the only party that has long warned that unchecked migration would drain public finances,destroy social cohesion, and make Germany and Europe weaker. Berlin’s €900 million migrant housing bill now stands as proof that the AfD was right all along.

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Maryland to consider slavery reparations after Gov. Wes Moore’s veto is overridden

Maryland will create a commission to study potential reparations for slavery after lawmakers voted Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Wes Moore — currently the nation’s only Black governor — that disappointed many fellow Democrats.

Moore said in his veto letter in May that it was a difficult decision to veto the bill, which was a priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. But he wrote there has been enough study of the legacy of slavery, and it was now time to “focus on the work itself” to address it.

But Democrats who control both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly decided the commission was needed to better examine how to do that.

“This topic isn’t easy, but, again, without formal study, reparations risk being dismissed as symbolic or unconstitutional, regardless of moral merit,” said Sen. Charles Sydnor, a Democrat.

After his veto was overridden, Moore said that while he disagrees with the legislature’s decision, “I am eager to move forward in partnership on the work of repair that we all agree is an urgent and pressing need.”

“I believe the time for action is now — and we must continue moving forward with the work of repair immediately,” Moore said in a statement. “That mission is especially vital given the immediate and ongoing effects of this federal administration on our constituents, including communities that have been historically left behind.”

Potential reparations outlined in the bill include official statements of apology, monetary compensation, property tax rebates, social service assistance, as well as licensing and permit fee waivers and reimbursement. Reparations also could include assistance with making a down payment on a home, business incentives, childcare, debt forgiveness and tuition payment waivers for higher education.

Maryland’s Black population is about 30%, the highest percentage of any state outside of the Deep South.

Support for reparations gained momentum in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. However, the issue has been a difficult one, particularly for high-profile Democrats, and comes amid a broader conservative backlash over how race, history and inequality are handled in public institutions.

“At a time of growing attacks on diversity and equity, today’s action reaffirms our shared commitment to truth-telling, accountability, and meaningful progress for Black Marylanders,” the state’s Legislative Black Caucus said in a statement.

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