Minnesota DFL Accused of Running Tammany-Style Machine in Somali Fraud Scandal

In a sharp critique published by The Daily Wire, authors Ann Bauer and Mitch Berg draw a provocative parallel between the Tammany Hall political machine of early 20th-century New York and the modern Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, arguing that both have used immigrant communities as fodder for political power—and that the Somali community in Minnesota is the latest chapter in this enduring American saga.

The article opens with a literary reference: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which depicts Irish immigrants in 1912 New York relying on Tammany Hall for jobs, legal protection, and a sense of belonging. Election Day, in that world, was a community celebration—Irish men were given cigars, assigned voting times, and expected to deliver their ballots for the Democratic machine. The authors argue that swapping Irish for Somali and Tammany for the DFL yields a near-perfect description of Minnesota politics today.

The Historical Echo

Bauer and Berg are careful to note that corruption is not unique to any one ethnic group. The constant, they write, is that boss politics incentivizes mass immigration and criminal behavior while exploiting the very people it claims to serve. They point to the Hmong community as a counterexample: over 300,000 Hmong refugees came to America after fighting alongside U.S. forces in Laos and Vietnam; more than 60,000 settled in Minnesota, and that community has largely integrated, with little crime or drama. The Somali experience, they argue, has been different.

To support this claim, they cite an article by Armin Rosen in County Highway, titled “The Shame of Our Cities,” which noted that American urban history is replete with ethnic mafias—Irish, Italian, Jewish—where community-wide criminal activity served as an engine of wealth and protection for the newly arrived underclass. “And what’s more American than fraud?” Rosen reportedly wrote. The authors agree that Somalis are following a well-worn path, but they stress that the enablers at the top were native-born Americans with names familiar to any Midwesterner.

The authors contend that Minnesota politicians chose Somalis as a workforce and voting bloc for a reason: the Hmong were hardworking farmers and vendors, while Somalis, coming from a war-torn, arid region, had learned to subvert systems of commerce. They were, the authors write, “literally the most audacious and successful pirates on the planet” when Minnesota invited them en masse. The implication is that they needed little training to pull off bold, flawless fraud.

This is a controversial and sweeping characterization, and the authors acknowledge that blaming Somalis as a group is tempting but ultimately misplaced. Instead, they reserve their “ardent disdain” for the Minnesota political establishment—the “Boss Tweed wannabes”—who they say are the true architects of the state’s fraud epidemic.

City Hall’s Embrace

The article lists a series of actions by Minnesota officials that, in the authors’ view, demonstrate the DFL’s protection of the Somali community: a mayor and attorney general dancing at Somali festivals, a lieutenant governor wearing a hijab, county attorneys failing to prosecute fraud cases, and officials denying the existence of Somali gang activity. They also point to the recent ICE operation, “Metro Surge,” which hit the Twin Cities in January. According to the authors, state officials instructed residents to block and threaten federal law enforcement during that operation. The generous explanation, they write, is that Democrats care about people. The likely truth, they argue, is that the DFL was protecting its voter base—and willing to sacrifice a few social justice warriors to do it.

The authors invoke the Sharon Statement, the 1960 founding document of Young Americans for Freedom, which declares that “foremost among the transcendent values is the individual’s use of his God-given free will.” They argue that modern conservatism is founded on individual responsibility, not group blame. Yet they ultimately hold the political machine, not the Somali community, responsible for the crimes and fraud that have plagued Minnesota.

Ann Bauer and Mitch Berg are co-founders of the publishing platform Storyalīz. Their piece is an opinion essay, and the claims about fraud, gang activity, and official misconduct are contested. The Daily Wire has published it as part of its ongoing coverage of Minnesota politics and the Somali community.

As the state prepares for upcoming elections, the article suggests that many of the officials accused of enabling this system are poised to be re-elected. The authors close by warning that the cycle of boss politics is timeless—and that unless voters hold individuals accountable, the machine will keep running.

Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-tammany-to-the-twin-cities-the-timeless-script-of-boss-politics