After Minnesota was rocked by a Somali-tied billion-dollar welfare fraud scandal, Democrat Gov. Tim Walz is now pushing one of the most radical 20-week paid family and medical leave programs in America — one that also offers benefits to illegal migrants, The Daily Wire reported Thursday.
The Paid Family and Medical Leave program is available to all eligible workers in the state, regardless of immigration status.
"Undocumented workers, youth workers, and new workers are also covered," a state website said.
Under the plan, individuals can take up to 12 weeks of leave for a serious personal medical condition and up to 12 weeks for family leave, capped at 20 weeks total per year.
It's also largely funded by employers through what is effectively a payroll tax, according to the report.
Republican state Rep. Walter Hudson said the mandate will devastate small businesses and slammed it for being absurdly expansive.
"We're one month out from destroying small business in Minnesota, unleashing a fresh wave of fraud where 30 people can claim time off to 'take care' of the same random person they have 'affinity' with," he wrote on X.
Asked this week if the plan was vulnerable to fraud amid Minnesota's Somali-centered scandal, Walz shot back that the question was "disrespectful" to Minnesotans.
Under Walz's watch, Minnesota was rocked by a massive fraud scandal in which more than $1 billion in taxpayer-funded food and welfare aid was allegedly stolen through a network largely tied to Somali-run nonprofits and businesses.
Prosecutors say Feeding Our Future funneled money to shell operations that claimed to feed children during the pandemic but instead enriched participants who bought luxury homes, cars, and sent funds overseas.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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