The Pentagon is moving to send dozens of military lawyers to Minneapolis to help with federal prosecutions amid an immigration enforcement crackdown, CBS News reported.
"Ideally have significant experience in criminal prosecution, civil litigation, administrative law, immigration law, general litigation, or other related fields," the request said, according to CNN.
The assignment would begin in March.
The Justice Department is "laser focused on rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, and has already charged dozens of defendants from Minnesota who've defrauded the American people," a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.
"Ensuring fraudsters, including refugees laundering American tax dollars, are held accountable is a top priority for this Administration, and this whole of government approach will continue until justice is served," the statement continued.
Minneapolis has remained on edge as heavily armed federal officers roam the streets, rounding up suspects they assert are dangerous criminal immigration violators while sometimes ensnaring law-abiding U.S. citizens. Officers have been met with throngs of demonstrators conducting their own patrols, blowing warning whistles and chanting at the agents.
The Trump administration has expressed no intention of backing down after deploying some 3,000 federal law enforcement officers to the Minneapolis area in what the DHS described as its largest immigration operation ever. The city is the latest Democrat-leaning jurisdiction that President Donald Trump has targeted with a federal show of force.
Trump has said he acted partly in response to fraud allegations against some members of the state's sizable Somali American community; the president has described Somali immigrants as "garbage" and said they should be thrown out of the country.
The Pentagon request for attorneys does not specify the focus of the assignment but comes as the several agencies under Trump have announced investigations into fraud in the state involving government programs in which most of the defendants have roots in the East African country.
Minnesota has been under the spotlight for years for Medicaid fraud, including a massive $300 million pandemic fraud case involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors said it was the country's largest COVID-19-related fraud scam and that defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.
So far, 57 people have been convicted, either because they pleaded guilty or lost at trial.
Most of the defendants are of Somali descent.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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