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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Somali illegal immigrant, who was convicted of fraud and is connected to several high-profile Minnesota politicians, including former Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz.
The illegal alien, Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, from Somalia, has had a deportation order against him since 2004 and courts have rejected all of his appeals.
Ibrahim has a criminal history that includes convictions in Canada for asylum and welfare fraud before he entered the United States, according to a Department of Justice document reviewed by Fox News Digital. On January 23, 2002, Ibrahim was also convicted in the Dakota County District Court for providing false information to police and driving without a valid license. He was fined and sentenced to one year's probation. Ibrahim has also received 12 traffic or parking citations in the U.S.
Ibrahim is unmarried but at one point claimed that his sister was his wife and her children were theirs, which was later found to be fictitious, according to the document.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Somali illegal immigrant Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, convicted of fraud, and connected to several high-profile Minnesota politicians, including former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz. (ICE)
Per ICE, Ibrahim entered the United States in 1995, in New York, following deportation from Canada.
On April 3, 2004, an immigration judge ordered Ibrahim removed. In the decision, the judge highlighted the significant amount of fraud associated with him. His appeals were denied, and in 2006, a circuit court upheld the immigration court’s decision.
Despite this, Ibrahim was granted Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for approximately 10 years. He has a pending TPS application that has still not been adjudicated since 2023.
Ibrahim has been photographed with several high-profile politicians in Minnesota, including Walz, Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Minneapolis Democratic City Council Member Jamal Osman and state Sen. Omar Fateh, who was unsuccessful in his recent Minneapolis mayoral race.
He has been photographed with Walz on at least two different occasions.
Osman and Fateh both wrote letters of recommendation on behalf of Ibrahim during his immigration proceedings.
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Ibrahim has been photographed with Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., (left) and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (right). (ICE)
President Donald Trump has recently announced a flurry of new actions to crack down and investigate fraud schemes in Minnesota, which he has assailed as a "hub of money laundering activity," and cited as the basis of his decision to terminate deportation protections for hundreds of Somali migrants.
Senior Trump administration officials announced fresh investigations this week, including a new Treasury Department probe into how taxpayer dollars were allegedly diverted to the terrorist organization al-Shabaab, according to Secretary Scott Bessent.
Last month, Trump cited the fraud as a driver of his decision to terminate the Temporary Protected Status designation for thousands of Somali migrants living in Minnesota, saying in a Truth Social post that they should "go back to where they came from."
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Somali illegal alien Abdul Dahir Ibrahim pictured again with Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz (left) and recent Minneapolis Democratic mayoral candidate state Sen. Omar Fateh (third from right) and Minneapolis Democratic City Council Member Jamal Osman (far right). (ICE)
Meanwhile, city officials in Minneapolis are bracing for an influx of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after the agency announced plans for a new operation in the state.
Walz, who ran against Trump in 2024 as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, has criticized Trump’s rhetoric regarding the Somali community in Minnesota, saying that "Donald Trump’s hateful words don’t stand in Minnesota" and "demonizing an entire group of people just by their race and their ethnicity … is something I was hoping we’d never have to see."
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He called the Somali community in Minnesota a "group of people who contribute to the vitality, economic culture of this state."
Fox News Digital reached out to Walz, Omar, Fateh and Osman for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.