WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that some Medicaid funding to Democrat-governed Minnesota would be "temporarily halted" over fraud concerns, as the Trump administration continues to ramp up its aggressive crackdown on alleged misuse of public funds.
"People are getting rich off the generosity of American taxpayers ... There are kids in Minnesota who need these services, and they're not going to those kids," Vance said at a press conference.
"It's disgraceful that fraudsters out there are taking advantage of programs like Medicaid. That stops today," Vance said.
Medicaid is a U.S. government health insurance program that provides free or low-cost medical coverage for low-income Americans. The program is funded jointly by states and the federal government.
Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who was also present at the press conference, said the federal government would hold off on paying 259.5 million dollars in Medicaid funding to Minnesota.
The latest announcement is part of the Trump administration's efforts to tackle alleged social welfare fraud. Such efforts have focused heavily on the northern U.S. state of Minnesota, whose governor, Tim Walz, was the Democratic nominee for vice president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The administration previously alleged fraud involving the Somali community in Minneapolis, and launched a large-scale immigration crackdown there -- a move that sparked widespread criticism and protests.
On Jan. 8, U.S. President Donald Trump established a new national fraud enforcement division within the Department of Justice (DOJ) to "combat the rampant and pervasive problem of fraud" in the United States.
The DOJ is currently engaged in multiple ongoing investigations into fraudulent activities in various Minnesota programs, including the state's Feeding Our Future, Housing Stabilization Services, and Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention programs, according to the White House.
It said that the DOJ has charged 98 defendants in Minnesota fraud-related cases, 85 of whom are of Somali descent, and 64 have already been convicted.
The Department of Health and Human Services previously cut off an additional 10 billion U.S. dollars in funding across five Democrat-run states, including Minnesota.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Trump announced that Vance would lead a national "war on fraud."
Walz has repeatedly claimed that the administration's actions are politically motivated.
"This has nothing to do with fraud," Walz said in a post on social media platform X. "The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DOJ is gutting the U.S. Attorney's Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster." ■