Justice Department seeks to strip US citizenship from convicted Feeding Our Future fraudster, 16 others

Paul Walsh, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 9, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — The federal government announced it is seeking to strip U.S. citizenship from 17 foreign-born residents accused of serious offenses, among them a Minnesotan charged in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal.

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday that the Immigration and Nationality Act allows for naturalized citizenship to be revoked if that status was illegally acquired by covering up or misrepresenting previous crimes or using multiple identities.

“When criminal aliens exploit the naturalization process by breaking the law, there are consequences,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in his own statement, said, “DHS will not stand idly by while Americans are harmed by criminals ... who have exploited our generosity and gamed our immigration system.”

Somali-born Abdikadir Ali Kadiye, 54, of Minneapolis is among the 17 U.S. citizens the Justice Department is targeting in denaturalization court proceedings.

Court records in the civil action do not list an attorney for Kadiye, who declined Tuesday to speak with the Minnesota Star Tribune. A hearing in the case has yet to be scheduled.

According to various immigration-rights groups, denaturalization could lead to someone being returned to their previous immigration status — such as a permanent resident holding a green card — or possibly deportation.

According to the DOJ:

In April of 1997, Kadiye sought admission to the United States by filing applications under two identities. Kadiye initially applied under the name Liban M. Degel and claimed he was married with no children.

After an immigration judge denied his application for immigration benefits, Kadiye submitted a second application in March 1998 under the name of Abdikadir Ali Kadiye. After his naturalization in 2012, Kadiye admitted to a Customs and Border Patrol agent that he had used two identities for admission.

Kadiye was one of dozens subsequently implicated in the $250 million federal fraud investigation involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future.

While president of Hobyo Health Care Foundation, Kadiye was charged in March 2023 with laundering $20,000 of the $1.1 million in fraudulent child nutrition program claims he received from the government to buy a laundromat. Kadiye also spent the money on other real estate and vehicles, including a BMW worth more than $100,000.

Kadiye falsely claimed to have served at least 445,000 meals to needy children at his sites in Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Minneapolis.

He pleaded guilty in September 2023 and awaits sentencing.

The 16 others being subjected to denaturalization proceedings range in age from 39 to 69 and include two each from Cuba, Colombia, Jamaica and Mexico, and one each from Haiti, the former Yugoslavia, India, the Dominican Republic, China, Congo, Trinidad and Tobago and the Philippines. Their alleged crimes include child sexual abuse of a minor, wire and bank fraud, and distributing drugs wholesale without a license.

The U.S. government wants the court to strip the 17 naturalized citizens of any benefits tied to being an American citizen and require they return their passports and other U.S. citizenship documents.

The move comes as the Trump administration pushes to ramp up denaturalizations. U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., introduced a bill in January seeking the denaturalization of anyone convicted of fraud, terrorism or an aggravated felony within 10 years of their naturalization.

This is the second round of denaturalization actions by the DOJ in the past month. In early May, a man convicted in Minnesota of a terrorism charge nearly 20 years ago was among a dozen people the Trump administration moved to denaturalize, citing allegations of serious offenses including child sexual abuse and war crimes. The Justice Department filed a civil complaint to revoke the U.S. citizenship of Salah Osman Ahmed, 44, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to providing support to terrorist organization al-Shabab.

—Sarah Nelson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

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