Former U.S. Foreign Service officer Simon Hankinson, who previously served in consulates across Africa including Ghana and Nairobi, testified that Somali nationals often provided false information when applying for U.S. visas, Breitbart reports.
“In my consular assignments, I was lied to many times a day about every aspect of applications, including their age, name, identity, marital status, occupation, purpose of travel, wealth, income, relatives in the U.S., and intent to return home,” Hankinson, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the outlet.
“It’s an unfortunate fact: People lie to get visas and immigration benefits,” Hankinson added.
Speaking before the committee on the topic of visa fraud within immigrant populations, Hankinson emphasized that fraud rates tend to mirror levels of poverty and corruption in an applicant’s home country. “The more corrupt and poor a country is, the more visa fraud,” he explained, adding that Somalia ranks among the most impoverished and corrupt nations globally. “Somalia is as poor and corrupt as a country can get,” Hankinson remarked. “In 2025, the [United Nations] ranked Somalia 192nd out of 193 countries on its human development index. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Somalia 179th out of 180.”
Hankinson described his experience overseeing visa operations for Somalia while stationed at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, since the U.S. had no official embassy in Somalia at the time. He detailed common types of fraud he encountered, including fabricated marriages and family ties, forged letters of support supposedly from Somali officials, and fraudulent employment documents.
While the hearing focused on visa fraud, Hankinson noted overlaps with welfare abuse, suggesting that corruption and crime often follow immigrant communities, at least within the first generation. Refugees arriving in the U.S. can become eligible immediately for federal programs including Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, food assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and student financial aid.
In a 2018 report, retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official Charles Thaddeus Fillinger described Somali immigration to the U.S. as “the greatest refugee fraud crisis in modern times” and “possibly the biggest blunder in immigration history.” According to Fox News, the Somali population has grown dramatically in Minnesota — from none in 1990 to nearly 80,000 residents today — with more than 80 percent of Somali households reportedly receiving some form of public assistance.