Rep. Brandon Gill grills witnesses over staggering welfare stats among Somalis in Minnesota

Michie said:

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, grilled witnesses during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday about the staggering statistics of welfare among the Somali community in Minnesota.

During the hearing that featured several Minnesota state lawmakers and addressed the allegations of widespread social services fraud in the state, Gill cited government statistics as he issued rapid-fire questions to Democrat witness Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor.

“Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?" he asked, to which Ballou replied, "Certainly stronger."

Gill went on to interrogate Ballou regarding what percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps, a statistic Ballou did not know, but which Gill noted is 54%.

"Do you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households?" Gill asked, before quickly noting it's only 7%.

Continued below.

Rep. Brandon Gill grills witnesses over staggering welfare stats among Somalis in Minnesota

Rep Brandon Gill, R-Texas, grilled witnesses during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday about the staggering statistics of welfare among the Somali households in Minnesota

www.christianpost.com

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Shameful article! And from a Christian source?

If Mr. Ballou was able to deliver truth, this is what he most likely would have said:

The use of statistics showing that 54% of Somali-headed households are on food stamps compared to 7% of native Minnesotan households is a stark but politically selective framing that deliberately ignores the core issue of systemic economic disparity. While the numbers reflect a real difference in public assistance usage, they fail to acknowledge the fundamental context that a community of primarily refugees and immigrants who began arriving in the early 1990s—fleeing a civil war—faces immense structural barriers to economic advancement. This high reliance is a direct consequence of the Minnesota Paradox, where the state has one of the highest qualities of life overall, but also some of the worst racial disparities in the nation across housing, income, and employment. The inability to immediately provide these demographic statistics does not diminish the expertise on white-collar crime; rather, the line of questioning serves to pivot the hearing away from the necessary pursuit of all large-scale fraud, including crimes committed by the powerful, and unfairly attaches the criminal actions of a few individuals involved in schemes like Feeding Our Future to a broad and vibrant community that continues to struggle against institutional disadvantage.

Maria Billingsley said:

Shameful article! And from a Christian source?

If Mr. Ballou was able to deliver truth, this is what he most likely have said:

The use of statistics showing that 54% of Somali-headed households are on food stamps compared to 7% of native Minnesotan households is a stark but politically selective framing that deliberately ignores the core issue of systemic economic disparity. While the numbers reflect a real difference in public assistance usage, they fail to acknowledge the fundamental context that a community of primarily refugees and immigrants who began arriving in the early 1990s—fleeing a civil war—faces immense structural barriers to economic advancement. This high reliance is a direct consequence of the Minnesota Paradox, where the state has one of the highest qualities of life overall, but also some of the worst racial disparities in the nation across housing, income, and employment. The inability to immediately provide these demographic statistics does not diminish the expertise on white-collar crime; rather, the line of questioning serves to pivot the hearing away from the necessary pursuit of all large-scale fraud, including crimes committed by the powerful, and unfairly attaches the criminal actions of a few individuals involved in schemes like Feeding Our Future to a broad and vibrant community that continues to struggle against institutional disadvantage.

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Why are those individuals not seeking jobs after being here for years? Why is the government not teaching them job skills so they CAN go out and get jobs instead of just supporting them as nauseum? MAYBE if the left was really concerned about these people and interested in their well-being, they would provide those services. Just throwing taxpayer money at them for them to be unproductive, just to be able to claim them as a voting block makes it obvious that they have no real interest or concern for them.

A New Dawn said:

Why are those individuals not seeking jobs after being here for years? Why is the government not teaching them job skills so they CAN go out and get jobs instead of just supporting them as nauseum? MAYBE if the left was really concerned about these people and interested in their well-being, they would provide those services. Just throwing taxpayer money at them for them to be unproductive, just to be able to claim them as a voting block makes it obvious that they have no real interest or concern for them.

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I guess you didn't open the link as to why there is such disparity.

Maria Billingsley said:

I guess you didn't open the link as to why there is such disparity.

Google Search

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First off, google is a leftist-leaning search engine. Google will, in every search, list those articles and videos and whatever else falls in under the search, that promote the leftist agenda. It is generally 20 or 30 pages back before something that counters the leftist agenda appears. So if you want me to look for information that speaks to the issue from all angles, just tell me what your search included and I will use a different search engine.

Secondly, I don’t really need the left to instruct me on why these particular set of people are unable to become integrated into US society when all the other people who have come into this country was able to integrate successfully.

A New Dawn said:

First off, google is a leftist-leaning search engine. Google will, in every search, list those articles and videos and whatever else falls in under the search, that promote the leftist agenda. It is generally 20 or 30 pages back before something that counters the leftist agenda appears. So if you want me to look for information that speaks to the issue from all angles, just tell me what your search included and I will use a different search engine.

Secondly, I don’t really need the left to instruct me on why these particular set of people are unable to become integrated into US society when all the other people who have come into this country was able to integrate successfully.

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Sometimes truth comes from the left.
Thanks for engaging !

Maria Billingsley said:

Sometimes truth comes from the left.
Thanks for engaging !

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Right. The lack of response so I can fairly judge the issue overwhelmingly shouts the bias in your response.