Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey posted a video on X celebrating Somali Independence Day, declaring that the city's Somali residents are "family", not immigrants, and pledging that Minneapolis "stands with" them. The remarks landed just weeks after federal agents raided more than 20 locations in Minneapolis, including childcare centers, as part of a crackdown on alleged fraud linked to Somali-owned businesses.
The timing drew sharp criticism from commentators across social media, who questioned why the Democratic mayor was celebrating a foreign independence day while Minnesota taxpayers remain on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged fraud tied to federal child nutrition programs.
Frey's video, posted with the caption "Happy Somali Independence Day," praised what he called "the resilience, culture, and leadership that continue to enrich" Minneapolis. In the video itself, Frey went further, directly referencing federal immigration enforcement and framing it as an attack on the city's Somali residents.
In the video, Frey addressed the Somali community directly, as Fox News reported:
"Through the most difficult of times and through Operation Metro Surge, we all saw that they tried to come for some of us. And, when that happens, we say that you're coming for all of us. In Minneapolis, we love our neighbors. In Minneapolis, we do not see you as immigrants, we see you as our family."
He continued:
"You are our brothers, you are our sisters. You have done so much for this incredible city, and for that, we stand with you."
Operation Metro Surge is the Trump administration's immigration enforcement initiative. Border czar Tom Homan has stated the operation resulted in over 4,000 arrests in the Minneapolis, St. Paul area, the New York Post reported. Frey's framing, casting federal immigration enforcement as something that "comes for" Minneapolis residents, positions the city's Democratic leadership squarely against lawful federal operations.
Somali Independence Day falls on July 1 and commemorates when the Somali people united to break free from European colonial rule, per Kare11 News.
What Frey's celebration omitted is the context that has made Minnesota's relationship with its Somali community a national story for very different reasons. In April, more than 20 locations in Minneapolis, including childcare centers, were raided as part of an investigation into alleged fraud linked to Somali-owned businesses.
A Republican-led House Oversight Committee report alleged that Minnesota lost roughly $300 million in stolen federal child nutrition funds during COVID-19. More than 110 people have been charged in various fraud schemes, many of them identified as Somali community members. The sheer scale of the alleged theft, money earmarked to feed hungry, underprivileged children, is what makes Frey's effusive praise land so differently than he may have intended.
This is not the first time Frey's public gestures have drawn scrutiny for seeming out of step with the concerns of ordinary residents and taxpayers.
Conservative commentator Matt Van Swol responded to Frey's post on X, writing: "The Somali community in Minnesota alone stole $250 million from federal child nutrition programs meant to feed hungry underprivileged children." That figure remains Van Swol's claim; the House Oversight report cited by the New York Post placed the number at roughly $300 million.
Citizen journalist Nick Shirley separately shared video of himself visiting childcare centers in Minnesota that had allegedly received millions of dollars in federal aid. At the locations he visited, there appeared to be no signs of children present.
The backlash on X was swift. Townhall columnist Dustin Grage posted a pointed comparison: "Jacob Frey's Independence Day references. America: 4, Somalia: 10." The implication, that a sitting American mayor devotes more public energy to a foreign nation's independence than to his own country's, cut to the heart of the criticism.
An account identified as @TheRealGOP asked a simpler question: "Minnesota taxpayers, do you feel enriched?"
Independent journalist Nick Sortor directed his criticism at Frey more bluntly, questioning whether the mayor understood how his gestures were being received. Sortor's post was sharp enough to cross into personal territory, a reminder that the frustration runs deep, even if the insults don't help the argument.
The broader concern is legitimate. When a mayor of a major American city tells a community implicated in a massive federal fraud investigation that he sees them as "family" and pledges to stand with them against federal law enforcement, voters are entitled to ask whose side he is on, and whether that solidarity extends to the taxpayers who funded the programs that were allegedly looted.
This is not an isolated episode for Frey. After winning reelection, the mayor delivered a victory speech in Somali, a move that itself drew criticism. The gesture was reported by Breitbart News in November 2025.
Minneapolis under Frey's leadership has become a recurring case study in the priorities of blue-city governance. The city council recently moved to lift a decades-old ban on adult bathhouses, another decision that raised eyebrows about where the city's leadership focuses its energy.
Meanwhile, the police department has faced its own turmoil. The city's police chief was forced out after allegedly tampering with a misconduct investigation, a scandal that underscored the dysfunction within Minneapolis's public institutions.
None of this happens in a vacuum. Democratic-run cities across the country face similar patterns, leaders who prioritize symbolic solidarity over accountability, who treat federal law enforcement as the adversary rather than the fraud, and who seem more comfortable addressing immigrant communities in their native languages than addressing taxpayers in plain English about where their money went.
The trend is not confined to Minneapolis. Across the country, progressive leaders are consolidating power in major cities, often with policy priorities that diverge sharply from the concerns of working residents.
Several facts remain unclear from the available reporting. The exact agency that conducted the April raids on Minneapolis childcare centers has not been explicitly identified in all accounts, though FBI involvement has been referenced. The legal outcomes of those raids, whether charges have been filed, whether convictions have resulted, remain unspecified in the reporting reviewed here.
The $250 million to $300 million range cited for the alleged fraud has appeared in both social media commentary and a House Oversight Committee report, but the precise adjudicated total remains an open question. What is not in dispute is that more than 110 people have been charged.
And the nature of "Operation Metro Surge", the federal initiative Frey referenced in his video as something that "tried to come for some of us", deserves more public scrutiny. If the operation resulted in over 4,000 arrests in the Twin Cities area, the public has a right to know what those arrests were for and whether the people arrested were in the country lawfully.
Frey's video did not address any of this. He offered no acknowledgment of the fraud investigations, no word of sympathy for the taxpayers whose money was allegedly stolen, and no distinction between law-abiding Somali residents and those charged with federal crimes. Instead, he offered a blanket pledge of solidarity, against the federal government.
When a mayor tells a community under federal investigation that he sees them as family and will stand with them against enforcement, that's not compassion. That's a choice, and taxpayers deserve to know exactly what they're getting for it.
