Immigrant entrepreneurs are stealing billions of dollars from American taxpayers, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) said as he began a Tuesday hearing on welfare fraud for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“America’s Medicaid system was designed to provide health care for low-income Americans … [yet] fraudsters and cheats are stealing billions in hard-earned American tax dollars,” said Gill, adding:

Recent reporting shows that many of the Somalian and Bhutanese communities commit a large portion, if not a majority, of home health Medicaid fraud in Ohio. It may not be the politically ripe thing to say, but we believe that is the truth.

The reality is that America wouldn’t have a problem with Somali and Bhutanese fraud if we didn’t import large numbers of Somali and Bhutanese people. That’s a fact. This appears to be the tip of the iceberg of a gross abuse of America’s immigration system.

For too long, our government allowed foreigners from low-trust societies with very little vetting to pour into our communities. Now, as elected officials, we can’t stand idly by as these fraudsters exploit our welfare system and get rich off of American taxpayers, and we can’t back down to fraud simply because of spurious accusations of racism.

The witnesses include Luke Rosiak, a reporter for the Daily Wire, Ohio Rep. Michael D. Dovilla (R-17), and Keith Faber, Ohio Auditor of State.

GOP-tied State officials have indicted more than 100 people for fraud in Ohio. In Minnesota, Democratic state officials suppressed evidence of the fraud.

The Democrats’ witness is Ohio Rep. Nickie Antonio (D-23), who worked with Democratic Representatives on the committee to repeatedly shift the hearing’s focus away from theft and towards the GOP’s fraud allegations or the civic and healthcare benefits of the Medicaid program.  

The Democrats’ political machines in New York, Chicago, Boston, Minnesota, Los Angeles, and other amnesty jurisdictions use poor migrants to siphon federal welfare funding into their state, via both legal and illegal conduits.

The hearing did not cover the vast impact of legalized immigration on Americans’ wages and housing. That topic is difficult for the GOP to cover partly because pro-migration business groups provide many donations to the GOP. 

Watch here: