Earlier this year, President Trump appointed Vice President Vance to lead a task force to identify instances of waste, fraud, and abuse in an effort to save taxpayer dollars from being stolen by bad actors.
By any measure, Vance’s efforts have been successful, and this week, the veep made an announcement about widespread fraud in certain communities that dovetails into the president’s ongoing mass deportation efforts.
Certain migrant communities are contributing to widespread fraud schemes that have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, Vance said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Speaking from his West Wing office at the White House last week, Vance discussed his role overseeing President Trump’s fraud task force.
He said investigators have identified what he described as a consistent pattern of coordination involving some migrant communities.
“You definitely see patterns where certain communities,” Vance said.
“It’ll start as maybe one Somali person takes advantage of the system, or realizes you don’t even have to have children to get money from these programs,” the VP continued.
“You could just claim that you have children, there’s no verification. Then, word spreads like wildfire, and that program gets tapped into by the same members of that community,” he added, describing how the abuse rapidly spreads.
Vance, who has also been involved in negotiations with Iran and recently welcomed a new addition to his family, has taken on a broad range of responsibilities within the administration.
He was assigned to lead efforts to combat fraud after concerns intensified in Minneapolis earlier this year and is now working alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and other federal agencies.
In recent months, federal officials have suspended payments to hundreds of hospice and home health agencies in Minnesota and California that are suspected of fraudulent activity.
The task force is also monitoring similar concerns in several other states.
Vance said the investigations have revealed fraud schemes that affect a wide range of victims, extending far beyond the financial losses suffered by taxpayers.
“The first and the most obvious victim is the American taxpayer,” Vance said.
“You give your money to the federal government, and you expect the federal government, even if you disagree with the policy behind it, you expect that money to go to the people that it’s supposed to go to,” the Veep told Fox News.
“When a new mom goes to apply for help for herself and her baby, the money isn’t there anymore,” said Vance.
“Or, you have autistic kids who benefit from services that are meant to go to the families of children with autism, and you have fraudsters who get rich off these programs,” he added.
“Sometimes they don’t even have children, much less autistic children enrolled.”
Democrats have blasted the Trump administration’s anti-fraud efforts, claiming, falsely, that the White House and Republicans are depriving needy children of food and other assistance.
In reality, Vance and his team have uncovered hundreds of billions of dollars in fraudulent payments, much of it to migrant communities taking advantage of the system.
Vance said his team has uncovered roughly $230 billion in suspected fraud since President Trump took office and has halted approximately $55 billion in federal payments to individuals and organizations under investigation.
The administration’s efforts have been accompanied by a series of recent law enforcement actions.
Last week, federal and state authorities charged 19 defendants accused of participating in schemes involving more than $4 million in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims, according to the Department of Justice.
In Pennsylvania, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced a plea agreement with the final defendant in a previously filed case involving 21 people accused of submitting more than $1.7 million in fraudulent claims to government health care programs, Fox News added.
