As part of a federal investigation into a “massive scheme to defraud” Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services Program, law enforcement carried out search warrants in the Twin Cities on Wednesday.

Eight locations were listed in the search warrant affidavit, including in St. Paul, Roseville and Little Canada. No one was under arrest as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota.

The Housing Stabilization Program is a new Minnesota Medical Assistance benefit intended to help seniors and people with disabilities — including mental illness and substance use disorders — find and maintain housing, said the affidavit by a special agent in the FBI’s Minneapolis office.

“The program has proved to be extremely vulnerable to fraud,” the agent wrote. “Since Minnesota became the first state to offer Medicaid coverage for Housing Stabilization Services, dozens of new companies have been created and enrolled in the program. These companies, and the individuals who run them, have taken advantage of the housing crisis and the drug addiction crisis in Minnesota to prey on individuals who need help getting back on their feet as they recover from drug addiction.”

The agent said the companies do this by contacting people in halfway houses and residential drug treatment facilities who are eligible for Medicaid and offering to help them find housing. After registering them to receive housing stabilization services, “the companies fraudulently claim to provide dozens of program service hours to their new ‘clients,’” the affidavit continued. “In reality, client after client has reported that they received little or no actual services or assistance from these companies.

“But the companies engaged in this scheme have received millions of dollars in Medicaid funds for housing stabilization services they did not actually provide,” the affidavit continues.

DHS responds

The search warrants are “the result of the critical partnerships” between the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which oversees the state’s Housing Stabilization Services Program, and other agencies and are “an important example of our shared commitment to work together to ensure Medicaid program integrity,” said Shireen Gandhi, DHS temporary commissioner, in a statement.

DHS’ Office of Inspector General “regularly provides investigative data and information about Medicaid provider targets to our law enforcement partners so they can build actionable cases to hold bad actors accountable,” Gandhi said.

“When credible signs of fraud were seen with these providers the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) immediately briefed law enforcement officials on the situation,” the statement said. “DHS has open investigations into all of the five providers targeted today by our law enforcement partners, and DHS previously stopped payments to three of the providers.

“Fraud in public programs hurts the people we are working to help,” Gandhi continued. “By coordinating the administrative oversight of DHS with the legal enforcement activity of our law enforcement partners, Minnesota is able to bring those committing Medicaid fraud to justice and, often, able to facilitate monetary recovery.”

She said DHS will continue to work with law enforcement and “thanks to legislative action this past session, DHS has additional tools, including the discretion to disclose when a stop payment is issued, effective July 1, 2025. These enhancements will help prevent fraud from happening on the front end as well as enable DHS to take swift public action when credible evidence of fraud is found on the back end.”

Facilities searched

The locations that were listed in the search warrant affidavit to be searched were:

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• Brilliant Minds Services in an office building on University Avenue near Fairview Avenue in St. Paul.

• Pristine Health LLC on Grand Avenue near Oxford Street in St. Paul.

• Liberty Plus LLC on Minnesota 36 in Roseville.

• Faladcare Inc. offices on Middle Street in Little Canada and Hudson Road in Woodbury.

• Leo Human Services in a building on Northland Circle in Brooklyn Park.

• Two houses, one on Stewart Avenue between West Seventh Street and Shepard Road in St. Paul, and the other on 127th Avenue Northeast in Blaine.

No one answered the phones at the businesses. The number for Brilliant Minds Services was disconnected when the Pioneer Press tried calling Wednesday.

By MARTHA BELLISLE

A group immigrants and legal advocates filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday that seeks to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from arresting migrants who appear at immigration courts for previously scheduled hearings and placing them on a fast-track to deportation.

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The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department and ICE says the arrests of thousands of people at court have stripped them of rights afforded to them under U.S. immigration law and the Fifth Amendment.

The large-scale immigration court arrests that began in May have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants. In what has become a familiar scene, a judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings against an immigrant while ICE officers wait in the hallway to take them into custody.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, said the Trump administration is “weaponizing” immigration courts and chilling participation in the legal process.

”People seeking refuge, safety, or relief should not be arrested, detained, and deported without a chance to be heard and given due process,” Perryman said in a statement.

Federal agents talk to each other outside immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building on Thursday, July 3, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Messages seeking comment from ICE, Homeland Security and the Justice Department were not immediately returned. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the courts, declined to comment.

President Donald Trump has pledged to deport the most dangerous criminals in the largest deportation program in American history to protect law-abiding citizens, but government data on the detentions show that the majority of people detained by ICE have no criminal convictions.

The lawsuit represents 12 people who have been arrested at court hearings, along with the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative and American Gateways, which provide legal services to people who face potential arrest and deportation when they comply with their immigration proceedings by attending a court hearing.

Some of the immigrants have lived in the United States for years and were separated from family members, some who were U.S. citizens, without notice, the lawsuit said. Others fled persecution in their home countries and requested asylum. But those requests were quashed when the government lawyer dismissed their case.

Priyanka Gandhi-Abriano, interim CEO for Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, said the arrests are a deliberate attempt to intimidate people.

“Our friends, neighbors, and families are told to ‘do it the right way’ — to follow the legal process,” Gandhi-Abriano said in a statement. “They’re doing just that — showing up to court, complying with the law. Despite this, they’re being arrested and detained.”

Federal agents stand outside immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Homeland Security officials have defended the practice, saying the Trump administration is implementing the rule of law after former President Joe Biden’s “catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets.”

They said if a person has a credible fear claim, they can continue in the immigration proceedings, but if not claim is found, they’ll be subject to swift deportation.

Keren Zwick, director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center said, “We are witnessing an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. immigration court system by the Trump administration.”

The people attending the hearings to seek permission to stay in the U.S., but they’re being rounded up and “abruptly ripped from their families, homes and livelihoods.”

“Meanwhile, the administration is issuing directives telling immigration judges to violate those same immigration laws and strip people of fundamental due process rights,” Zwick said. “We must continue fighting to overcome the administration’s escalating attacks on the U.S. Constitution and rule of law.”

The new package of bills applies to all contracted delivery workers, including those who deliver food, groceries, and other goods, and addresses pay, transparency, and safety standards.

A app-based delivery worker on the streets of Manhattan in 2020. (Photo by Adi Talwar)

In a victory led by grassroots organizers, the City Council voted this week to expand workplace protections for delivery workers.

The new package of bills applies to all contracted delivery workers, including those who deliver food, groceries, and other goods, and addresses pay, transparency, and safety standards.

Several organizations backing food and delivery workers, as well as politicians, gathered on the stairs of City Hall Monday to celebrate the legislation, which officials say builds on a law passed in 2021 that mandated the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) study working conditions and pay for deliveristas to establish a minimum wage. The initial $17.96 rate went into effect in December 2023, along with other safety measures established by the study. 

“In 2021, we were able to promote the first legislative package. Six laws, in favor of the delivery workers. And we managed to pass that package of laws, but they had loopholes in the law, where the platforms took advantage and, unfortunately, used them against the workers, removing the tipping option and using various methods of payment,” said Gustavo Ajche, co-founder of Los Deliveristas Unidos, which represents delivery workers. 

“Thanks to the Municipal Council, today we have managed to change that,” he said. 

Protections and minimum wage pay expanded 

Two new bills—Intro. 1133-A, sponsored by Councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez and Intro. 1135-A  by Councilmember Sandy Nurse—close loopholes that excluded several app delivery workers from the minimum wage pay law that went into effect in 2023. 

Intro. 1133-A requires DCWP to establish a minimum pay rate for all contracted delivery workers. It also expands other protections, like access to insulated delivery bags, fire safety materials, and bathrooms. 

Intro. 1135-A requires third-party grocery delivery services like Instacart to pay their workers at least the minimum pay rate established by the DCWP. 

“In 2021, the Council made history by setting a minimum pay rate for food delivery workers. That was a very big deal, and it led to about a billion dollars in increased wages for food delivery workers, but unfortunately, grocery delivery workers were left out of that,” said Councilmember Sandy Nurse. “Intro. 1135 is correcting them. We are going to create a minimum pay wage for grocery delivery workers, and it’s the right thing.” 

Deliveristas rallying on the steps of City Hall on Monday. (Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit.)

Tipping and pay transparency 

Two bills sponsored by Councilmember Sean Abreu address tipping on delivery apps. 

Intro. 738-A requires third-party delivery services to prompt customers with the option to tip “before or at the same time an order is placed.” This comes in response to apps no longer including tips at checkout after deliveristas won the right to a minimum wage in 2023. 

“When the minimum wage went into effect for deliveristas, the apps retaliated by removing the tipping option at checkout,” Abreu said. “Just because you’re getting minimum wage, it’s only minimum wage for active time work from the moment you pick up the delivery to the moment you drop it off, but you don’t get minimum wage for waiting for that call.” 

Intro. 737-A requires apps to suggest a tip option of at least 10 percent of the purchase price on both food and grocery orders. “Let me be clear, it is a recommendation, but we do know that when those recommendations are presented to consumers, they’re very likely to pick them,” said Abreu. 

Also included is Intro. 859-A, which requires “delivery services to pay their contracted delivery workers no later than [seven] calendar days after the end of a pay period.” 

Apps are also required to provide workers with an itemized written statement that outlines their compensation, no later than seven days after the end of the pay period. The records have to be kept by delivery services apps for at least three years, and provided to employees upon request.

Opponents of these bills say they will negatively impact small businesses by driving customers away.

Last June, DoorDash testified against Intros 737, 738, and 859, saying enforcement of minimum wage for delivery workers increased their operating costs, increasing consumer fees as a result. 

Doordash Marketplace, the platform customers use to place orders, saw an estimated 850,000 fewer orders, resulting in “approximately $17,000,000 in lost revenue for restaurants and other local merchants,” the company testified. 

To balance this out, Doordash moved the tipping option to after check-out, claiming it is “very accessible and available during multiple points in the delivery process,” and up to 30 days after purchase.

Workers are still calling for legal protection against deactivations—periods during which a worker’s account is blocked and they’re prohibited from completing deliveries.(Photo by Victoria Moran Garcia)

Several organizations and delivery worker rights advocates were in attendance at Monday’s celebratory rally, including Afrikana, a Harlem-based community group that works with newly arrived immigrants, many of whom find jobs in the delivery sector. 

The organization said these bills are “a step toward justice for communities who are too often invisible in the workforce. We’re talking about one of the backbones of the city, our deliveristas.” 

“We believe every worker, especially migrants, deliveristas and other people in the delivery sector, should be protected, should be respected and paid fairly,” said Executive Director Adama Bah in a written statement read by Macky Diallo, director of operations at Afrikana. 

While the group of deliveristas and organizers celebrated the new bills, they say more is needed. In particular, they’re calling for legal protection against deactivations—periods during which a worker’s account is blocked and they’re prohibited from completing deliveries.

“These companies say the minimum wage will cost us our jobs. But the truth is, they use lockouts and deactivations to avoid paying us what they owe us,” said Antonio Solis, a leader of Los Deliveristas Unidos and a DoorDash delivery worker. “They force us to meet impossible delivery times, bundle multiple orders, and punish us if we can’t complete them. They put our safety and risk, forcing us to choose between living wages, driving carefully, and losing our jobs.”

“That’s why our fight isn’t over,” Solis added. “We need more protections against unjust deactivations. And laws so we can defend ourselves against these companies’ pressure and fear tactics.”

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Victoriam@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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On the eve of what looks to be another difficult budget season, the St. Paul City Council has added two new staffers to its central leadership team. Kumud Verma, previously the finance director for the city of Richfield, will serve as the council’s chief budget officer and Tim Greenfield, recently a nonpartisan attorney for the Minnesota Senate, will serve as its chief policy officer, a newly-created staff position for the council.

Kumud Verma. (Courtesy of the St. Paul City Council)

Both will report to Jay Willms, who was appointed director of council operations in April.

The two new staffers were selected “to strengthen the legislative body’s independent capacity to develop, analyze, and evaluate policy and budget decisions,” according to a statement from the council, which noted the council is a “co-equal branch of government” to the mayor’s office.

The two are joining council staff just weeks before St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is expected to present his 2026 budget proposal in August. Given financial pressures like inflation, federal funding cuts and declining downtown property values, few expect smooth sailing.

Tim Greenfield. (Courtesy of the St. Paul City Council)

The city council ended last year in an unprecedented budget impasse with St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s office, which maintained that the council had given final approval to the proposed 2025 city budget too late, rendering moot their attempts to override the mayor’s $2.4 million in line-item vetoes of their budget changes.

The two rival budgets and property tax levies left in question for months which budget documents had actually prevailed.

In the end, the Office of Financial Services published the budget with the mayor’s preferred changes, but alongside the 5.9% property tax levy proposed by the council, rather than the 7.9% initially proposed by the mayor or his 6.9% compromise proposal.

Verma, who holds a master’s degree in finance from Delhi University, has served for more than two decades in the industry. She was finance director for the city of Richfield for nearly three years. Prior to that, she spent more than 17 years with the American Public Media Group and Minnesota Public Radio, most recently as manager of treasury operations.

Greenfield, who holds a law degree from Mitchell Hamline School of Law, has spent more than a decade at the Minnesota Legislature. He served as a nonpartisan attorney for the Minnesota Senate, supporting the Transportation Committee with legislative drafting, policy development and legal research.

The pair will join the council’s central staff leadership team, which includes Willms and city clerk Shari Moore, legislative hearing officer Marcia Moermond, licensing hearing officer Nhia Vang and Veronica Burt, who staffs the reparations commission and serves as a council legislative aide.

The council next week will consider adding additional staff, including a position related to communications.

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