By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration said on Thursday it was creating a new division at the U.S. Department of Justice to combat what the White House called “rampant” fraud across the country.
Rights advocates and critics have said the Trump administration has used fraud allegations as an excuse to target immigrants and political opponents. They have also dismissed Trump’s ability to tackle fraud, citing pardons from Trump to those who have faced fraud convictions in the past.
“To combat the rampant and pervasive problem of fraud in the United States, the DOJ’s new division for national fraud enforcement will enforce the federal criminal and civil laws against fraud targeting federal government programs, federally funded benefits, businesses, nonprofits and private citizens nationwide,” the White House said in a statement.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has singled out Minnesota, alleging rampant fraud is being committed by immigrants in the welfare system and social-service programs.
Trump administration officials have frequently and sharply attacked the state’s Somali community, the largest in the country. Rights and immigration advocates say Trump has exaggerated isolated examples and used those to engage in what they called federal overreach.
The assistant attorney general for the new Justice Department division will be responsible for leading the department’s efforts to investigate, prosecute and remedy fraud affecting the federal government, federally funded programs and private citizens, the White House said.
The White House said the official will advise the U.S. attorney general and deputy attorney general “on issues involving significant, high-impact fraud investigations and prosecutions and related policy matters.”
Earlier this week, the Trump administration said it would freeze more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, citing what the administration called fraud concerns. The states later sued the Trump administration.
The administration has threatened federal funding cuts to organizations and states over a number of issues ranging from alleged fraud in programs in states governed by Democrats to diversity initiatives and pro-Palestinian university protests against U.S. ally Israel’s assault on Gaza.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
Comments