The first rule of assimilating into America is simple: don’t move here and steal a billion dollars from the welfare state. We can get to baseball stats and Thanksgiving sides after we nail that one. “Don’t accidentally turn Minnesota into a funding arm for Al‑Shabaab” is a pretty low bar for joining a country.

Minnesota’s $1 billion-plus fraud scandal, initially broken by Ryan Thorpe and Chris Rufo in City Journal, is what happens when a high‑trust Scandinavian welfare model collides with imported clan politics. Somali‑run nonprofits and shell companies looted child‑nutrition, housing, and autism programs for years while liberal officials, activists, and Ilhan‑world staffers warned that scrutiny was “racist.” Assimilation — one flag, one loyalty — used to be the price of entry. Minnesota fraud is what happens when we stop charging it.