Last winter’s Somali fraud scandal in Minnesota alerted Americans to a troubling reality: scammers, fraudsters, and foreign criminals have been stealing billions of their taxpayer dollars—often with zero consequences. While pretending to provide social services, these criminals have pocketed federal funds to subsidize lavish lifestyles while sending much of the money overseas. While taxpayers have been robbed, resources have been siphoned away from vulnerable Americans who desperately need the help.

For too long, government officials, especially in blue states, have looked the other way. But under President Trump, this widespread corruption is coming to an end.

Just last month, the Justice Department charged 15 people for engaging in healthcare fraud in Minnesota, including two individuals who billed $46.6 million in fraudulent claims for youth autism services; two defendants who pilfered $22 million from the state’s Individualized Home Supports program; eight people who stole $15.7 million meant to provide housing for those with disabilities; and two others who committed more than $5 million in child care fraud, including one scammer featured in independent journalist Nick Shirley’s viral fraud video.

While prosecutors estimate that the fraud in Minnesota could exceed $9 billion, we know that total is just the tip of the iceberg nationwide. For four years, the Biden administration rolled back vital safeguards to prevent fraud in social services programs, losing more than $925 billion in improper payments.

To root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs across the country, President Trump signed an executive order in March to establish the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. And in just two months, the task force—led by Vice President Vance and vice-chaired by Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson—has had tremendous success saving taxpayer dollars and tracking down fraudsters.

At a roundtable discussion last week with state attorneys general, Vice President Vance announced that the administration has worked to recover $160 billion in stolen funds, including $22 billion in fraudulent small business loans, $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements, $6.3 billion in government contracts, $60 million in student aid, and a staggering $135 billion in COVID funds. As part of this effort, the Justice Department has launched a new National Fraud Enforcement Division to investigate thousands of fraud cases.

To support the administration’s efforts, I recently introduced the Fraud Accountability Act to make clear that fraud counts as a deportable offense under the Immigration and Nationality Act and that any deportable offense can lead to denaturalization. As the Trump administration works to root out fraud, we have seen case after case involving foreign nationals who have come to our country with the sole purpose of defrauding American taxpayers.

As of earlier this year, 85 of the 98 defendants in the Minnesota fraud cases were of Somali descent, with many funneling stolen taxpayer dollars back to their home country. In April, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio charged five individuals—all of whom are Romanian nationals, including one illegal alien—for stealing nearly $1 million in SNAP benefits. In March, two foreign nationals, including an Iranian wanted for deportation, were arrested on federal charges for participating in a $17.4 million mortgage fraud scheme that targeted elderly Americans. And last June, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani national in Arizona for his connection to a $650 million health care fraud scheme. The scammer, Farrukh Ali, allegedly used $3 million of the funds to purchase a home on a golf estate in Dubai.

The Fraud Accountability Act would ensure that every foreign criminal who comes to our country to steal taxpayer dollars is prevented from harming the American people ever again. Congress should pass this commonsense legislation as soon as possible.