ICE has arrested a Somali national with a long record of fraud and immigration trouble, and photos of him posing with some of Minnesota’s most prominent Democrats are now fueling a fresh political firestorm.
The man, identified as Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, was taken into custody by ICE agents and is being held at a federal facility in Nebraska, according to records cited by Fox News and other outlets.
Fox News reported that he first entered the United States in 1995 after being deported from Canada, where he had been convicted of asylum and welfare fraud. In one immigration filing, according to court documents described by the New York Post, he falsely claimed his sister and her five children were his wife and kids, a move that drew a judge’s rebuke for a “complete lack of credibility.”
He was convicted in 2002 of providing false information to police and driving without a valid license in Dakota County, and was fined and sentenced to a year of probation. He also picked up a string of traffic and parking citations in the U.S. over the years.
An immigration judge ordered Ibrahim removed from the United States on April 3, 2004, “citing the significant amount of fraud associated with him,” according to a social media post from the Department of Homeland Security. An appeals court later backed that decision in 2006. But the story did not end there. Ibrahim was subsequently granted Temporary Protected Status, which gave him deportation protections for about a decade while conditions in Somalia remained unstable.
Criminal illegal alien, Abdul Dahir Ibrahim has been linked to Minnesota’s top sanctuary politicians. In these pictures Ibrahim can be seen with @GovTimWalz, @Ilhan, and @OmarFatehMN.
Ibrahim was convicted in Canada for Asylum and Welfare Fraud prior to his entry into the United… pic.twitter.com/mijqM4ZB0L
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 5, 2025
Trump recently moved to end TPS for Somali nationals, and DHS says Ibrahim was targeted as part of a wider crackdown on what officials describe as widespread fraud among Somali immigrants in Minnesota.
On Friday, DHS did something unusual, it publicly blasted out images of Ibrahim on X, formerly Twitter, including photos of him smiling alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, and state senator Omar Fateh. “Criminal illegal alien, Abdul Dahir Ibrahim has been linked to Minnesota’s top sanctuary politicians,” the DHS post said. “In these pictures Ibrahim can be seen with @GovTimWalz, @Ilhan, and @OmarFatehMN.”
The same post highlighted his record up north: “Ibrahim was convicted in Canada for Asylum and Welfare Fraud prior to his entry into the United States,” DHS wrote, adding that an immigration judge ordered him removed in 2004 because of the “significant amount of fraud associated with him,” before signing off with a blunt “Bye-bye, Abdul.”
The photos have given Republicans new ammunition to attack Minnesota Democrats for their embrace of immigrant communities and support for so called sanctuary style policies. Conservative outlets have also noted that Fateh reportedly wrote a letter on Ibrahim’s behalf during immigration proceedings.
Democrats, for their part, point out that politicians of both parties routinely pose for photos at public events and say a picture does not prove a close relationship. Walz has previously pushed back on Trump’s rhetoric about Somali immigrants, calling it racist and insisting his administration has worked to combat fraud in state programs.
