Minnesota Is Just the Beginning. California and New York Are ‘Next’

The Trump administration appears to beryllium deploying the aforesaid playbook it utilized successful Minnesota—leveraging allegations of fraud to warrant important national oversight—in different bluish states crossed the country, starting with California and New York.

“POTUS loves Minnesota and the people. It’s a authorities wherever helium received historical Republican support, and helium has agelong called retired [Governor Tim] Walz for his incompetence and unspeakable leadership,” a elder White House authoritative tells WIRED. “The fraud is truthful blatant and wide that it’s a bully spot to commencement but it’s lone the beginning. CA and NY next.”

This attack seemingly signals a broader strategy to usage investigations into alleged fraud arsenic a pretext for national operations successful bluish states crossed the country, perchance exposing tens of millions of Americans to heightened national scrutiny and unchecked ICE enactment portion exacerbating tensions betwixt the White House and Democratic governors. Responding to protests implicit this surge successful Minneapolis, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act Thursday morning.

The White House declined to comment, referring WIRED to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A DHS spokesperson did not code the anticipation of accrued ICE beingness successful either California oregon New York arsenic a effect of alleged fraud investigations erstwhile reached for comment. "This is [sic] largest DHS cognition successful history—we won’t get into resources oregon numbers of personnel,” the spokesperson told WIRED connected Tuesday.

The California and New York governors’ offices did not instantly respond to requests for comment.

Since the extremity of December, DHS has sent thousands of migration agents into Minnesota successful effect to a assortment of fraud claims pushed by White House officials. The allegations successful Minnesota mostly stem from a viral YouTube video published by the 23 year-old right-wing creator Nick Shirley, which claimed to uncover a purported $100 cardinal fraud strategy involving Somali kid attraction centers (Multiple section Minnesota outlets person covered akin stories for years. Nearly 100 radical person been charged and astir 60 radical person been convicted). The video, which has implicit 3 cardinal views arsenic of publication, was shared by figures similar Elon Musk and vice president JD Vance. Soon aft it circulated connected X, DHS ramped up its migration enforcement efforts successful Minneapolis. On January 7, an ICE cause changeable and killed Renee Nicole Good, a Minnesota nonmigratory and parent of three. Protests astir the authorities are ongoing. In an code past night, Walz told residents, “if you spot ICE successful your neighborhood, instrumentality retired that telephone and deed record. Help america make a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans—not conscionable to found a grounds for posterity, but to slope grounds for aboriginal prosecution.”

Shirley is expected to look earlier the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee connected transgression and national authorities surveillance adjacent week to sermon alleged fraud successful Minnesota.

In the weeks since the archetypal Minneapolis surge, the medication has threatened to frost national funds for programs similar Medicaid successful different bluish states. Trump said connected Tuesday that the medication could frost national payments to sanctuary jurisdictions arsenic soon arsenic February 1. Asked astir ICE’s relation successful fraud investigations, the elder White House authoritative explained that “if the fraudsters are illegals, they are getting deported.”

“Governor Walz has destroyed the State of Minnesota, but others, similar Governor Gavin Newscum, JB Pritzker, and Kathy Hochul, person done, successful my opinion, an adjacent much dishonest and incompetent job. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!” Trump wrote connected Truth Social past week. He besides posted, “California, nether Governor Gavin Newscum, is much corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible??? The Fraud Investigation of California has begun.”