WASHINGTON (TNND) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Friday announced that the agency suspended federal financial awards to Minnesota and Minneapolis "effective immediately."
"Enough is enough! The Trump administration has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis -- billions siphoned off by fraudsters. And those in charge have ZERO plan to fix it," Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote on X.
"Today, @USDA is suspending federal financial awards to Minnesota and Minneapolis, effective immediately, until sufficient proof has been provided that the fraud has stopped. No more handouts to thieves! Time to drain the Minnesota swamp and put American taxpayers first," she added.
FILE - Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speaks as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (left) looks on during a policy announcement event at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on January 8, 2026 in Washington. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rollins tagged Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in her social media post. It also included a document that informed Walz and Frey of the new development.
"During your tenure as Governor of Minnesota and Mayor of Minneapolis, numerous nonprofits and businesses have defrauded the federal government in what a federal prosecutor in Minnesota called 'a staggering, industrial-scale fraud," she wrote in the document.
"Most notably, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit -- Feeding Our Future -- defrauded U.S. taxpayers of nearly $250 million in federal funds given to then by the Minnesota Department of Education," she added. "This fraud scheme involved USDA funding provided to the State of Minnesota to feed hungry children under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)."
Rollins also said as of late November, 78 people have been charged in connection to the case.
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The move comes after the Department of Health and Human Services froze funding for multiple childcare grant programs across the state. They include the Child Care and Development Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, as well as Social Services Block Grant programs.