Fraudsters using stolen Social Security numbers and dead people’s identities have collected millions from Medicaid and food stamps, a watchdog revealed in a new report first shared with the Daily Signal. In one case, a Social Security number was tied to 15 employers across 14 states in a single three-month window, according to the report by the Foundation for Government Accountability. There is currently no federal requirement for states to verify who someone is before they enroll in Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, the foundation notes. The report was titled “Stolen Identities: The Welfare Fraud Nobody’s Talking About.” “Requiring identity verification for welfare applicants at the federal level would save an estimated $29 billion over the 10-year budget window,” the report contends. “Prior to enrollment, state agencies should not only ensure that the claimed identity is eligible for the program, but that the person seeking enrollment is who they say they are.” FakeStolenIdentitiesWelfarePrograms_ResearchPaper_DRAFTDownload The FGA used Government Accountability Office findings and state-level data to document the proliferation of identity fraud in welfare programs. “The solution here is almost too simple: We require people to show an ID to get a library card, but states aren’t required to verify who you are before putting you on a welfare program that costs taxpayers more than $1 trillion a year. Fraudsters know this, and they are exploiting it every single day,” Michael Greibrok, senior research fellow at the FGA, told the Daily Signal in a statement. Further, almost 24 million Americans have their identity stolen each year, and fraudsters are using those stolen identities to enroll in welfare programs. “The food stamp program is also rife with identity fraud. A recent review of roughly half of state food stamp programs revealed more than one million instances of duplicate enrollment, the enrollment of a deceased individual, the use of dummy SSNs, and instances of no SSN found,” the report says. “These fraudulent enrollments led to estimated costs of more than $2.2 billion.” The report says food stamp spending tops $100 billion a year, but more than one in every $10 spent is in error, over $10 billion in a single year. A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson noted that current regulations for obtaining food stamps require mandatory verification of gross income, alien eligibility, utility expenses, medical expenses, Social Security numbers, residency, identity, disability, household composition, student status, legal obligation and actual child support payments, and status related to work requirement expectations. “The department stands ready to provide technical assistance to any policy Congress is contemplating, including identification verification,” the spokesperson told the Daily Signal, later adding, “Correct, the program has exceeded $100 billion per year, and erroneous payments have cost the American taxpayer roughly $10 billion, with the most recent data representing FY 2025 benefit payments.” The report contends that at a time when Medicaid is approaching almost $1 trillion in annual spending, about one in every five Medicaid dollars is spent improperly, costing taxpayers tens of billions each year. A spokesperson from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not respond to inquiries for this story. The state of Arkansas found more than 20,000 high-risk identities, which are Social Security numbers that predate the enrollee’s birth, don’t appear in public records, or are linked to multiple people, the report says. New Jersey found more than 18,000 Medicaid enrollees with fake or duplicate Social Security numbers. In addition to identity verification, the report also recommends that states regularly check enrollment lists against the Social Security Administration Death Master File and flag Social Security numbers appearing in multiple states simultaneously. It adds that the federal government should hold states accountable. The report says that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provided some improvements. “The law pauses the Biden administration’s 2024 rule that prohibited states from verifying most Medicaid enrollees’ identities,” the report says. “It also requires states to check Social Security death records at least quarterly and submit SSNs of enrollees to the federal government monthly to help prevent deceased and duplicate enrollment.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, speaking at a news conference Thursday, called for huge changes in the city’s rental market including elimination of proof of income for tenants. Mamdani hosted the news conference to promote his “Rental Ripoff Report,” created to “strengthen tenant protections, improve housing quality and hold negligent landlords accountable,” according to the report’s summary. The report included a series of recommendations for New York City including “recognizing tenant unions, expanding tenants’ ability to organize and bargain collectively over building conditions and other shared concerns,” according to a release from the mayor’s office. It suggested new rules for landlords to “disclose when rental listings have been altered using artificial intelligence or other digital tools,” the release noted. According to a June report by the Corcoran Group, a real estate firm, rents in New York City have reached record highs. “Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s median rents reached $5,295 and $4,350, respectively, in June,” Fox News reported Monday. At the news conference, Mamdani was flanked by the director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, Cea Weaver, who in the past has endorsed electing more communists and has said that private property and home ownership are weapons of “white supremacy.” In a January interview with Spectrum News NY1, Weaver said of her controversial past remarks, “Some of those things are certainly not how I would say things today, and are regretful.” Antonia Marrero, a member of the Housing Organizers for People Empowerment Tenant Union, denounced evictions as “violence” and said that Mamdani would usher in a new era in New York City. Marrero said, “Our city is turning the corner on tenant power. When we organize, we win results. The Mamdani administration is emboldening us so we no longer tolerate the violence of evictions as a matter of business as usual.” The Daily Signal reached out to Mamdani’s office and HOPE’s press office about what was meant by the phrase “violence” of evictions, but they did not respond by publication time. Marrero, who was wearing a mask during her speech, drew criticism from conservatives on X who labeled the news conference a “freak show” and denounced his reforms as a power grab. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a post on X, called the press conference a “theater of the absurd.” Nick Freitas, a former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, wrote on X that the language of a policy being “violence” sets up a moral foundation for calling the response “self defense.” Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said the press conference looked like “a scene out of a Batman movie.” Law professor Jonathan Turley called Mamdani’s new policies “part of a constructive seizure of private property.” After holding a press conference on ending "the violence of evictions," Mayor Mamdani is pushing reforms that include banning or discouraging the use of credit checks by landlords. So the city will oppose landlords checking if tenants can pay rent and then oppose any effort to…— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 17, 2026

As the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act remains stalled in Congress, a new report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shows an astounding number of deceased and illegal aliens are registered to vote in Texas. The document, released by DHS, shows more than 113,000 individuals who are either deceased or illegal aliens are registered to vote in the state.  DHS notes that 10 states have cooperated with the federal government’s request for their complete voter rolls: Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas. According to the declassified document, more than 400,000 deceased individuals, and more than 28,000 illegal aliens, are registered to vote across the 10 states. Texas has the highest number of deceased individuals registered to vote, with 111,573, according to the document. The state also has 2,296 illegal aliens registered to vote. The remaining 40 states have yet to submit their voter rolls. However, a preliminary review of California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania found that more than 250,000 illegal aliens were registered to vote in those states, according to DHS. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, New Jersey Secretary of State Dale Caldwell, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, warning them of the thousands of illegal aliens registered to vote in their respective states. Mullin requested that the states respond within two weeks to “confirm their intentions to collaborate with DHS in order to ensure free, fair, and honest elections.” Meanwhile, President Donald Trump held a press conference urging Americans to demand that their legislators pass the SAVE America Act, federal voter ID legislation. “To all Americans: I ask you to pick up your phone tomorrow, call your representatives in the House and Senate and demand that they pass the SAVE America Act without delay,” Trump said. “Addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America act.” “How easy is that to do, unless you want to cheat? The only reason you would not do it is you want to cheat because your policies are so bad,” Trump added. DHS said many other states have signed memoranda of agreement with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to use the SAVE system to process their voter rolls. However, other states have refused to do so. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan has blocked the administration from using a revamped version of an immigration database.

A Texas imam is under fire after appearing to celebrate the death of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, writing, “May you live an eternity in ruins.” On July 12, hours after Graham’s death was announced, Omar Suleiman, president and co-founder of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, posted on social media. “In other news, Lindsey Graham is dead,” Suleiman wrote. “Bye Lindsey. May you live an eternity in ruins for the ruins you helped create in Gaza. Ameen.”  His remarks sparked outrage among Republican lawmakers, with U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas writing on social media, “A U.S. Senator dies—and an Imam in Texas celebrates. We are at war—and only one side understands it.” Suleiman is no stranger to members of Congress. In 2019, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, invited him to open the U.S. House in prayer. During the prayer, Suleiman was heard saying, “We pray for peace, not war. Love, not hate.” However, critics have pointed to Suleiman’s past comments and associations as a stark contrast to his message of love and peace. According to a special report by the Middle East Forum, Suleiman was designated as one of the top 10 antisemitic influencers in the United States by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. After the designation, Suleiman posted a YouTube video sharing his father’s message congratulating him for “making the honors list.” Suleiman has also advocated for Sharia law and defended the practice of sex slavery and concubinage, according to the Middle East Forum. “Islam is about solving real problems; it’s not about idealism. … Society’s welfare always takes precedence over the individual’s welfare,” Suleiman said. “What this means is, the outrage over a man having been able to be intimate with more than one woman, or more than four women, unfortunately, goes over the outrage that, … had that option not been there, [the woman] would have most likely been put in a situation of prostitution.” He added: “This [concubinage] was to solve a real problem. … A women [sic] had rights in that situation that she would not have had in any other situation as a concubine.” In addition, Suleiman has been accused of defending convicted terrorists, calling for a third intifada, and traveling to Turkey to support Muslim Brotherhood leaders banned from entering the United States.  Suleiman has also called Aidh al-Qarni “one of the greatest scholars and thinkers of the world.” Al-Qarni, a Saudi cleric, has preached that “fighting the Jews and not making peace with them is a religious Islamic duty.” He also said, “The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of the Muslims and the enemies of Islam.” “Throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered. This is the path to victory, to shahada, and to sacrifice,” al-Qarni said, according to the report. With Suleiman’s past comments and associations under renewed scrutiny, U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, introduced a resolution to Congress formally condemning Suleiman’s remarks about Graham’s death. The resolution also calls on the House to support House Republicans’ efforts “in raising awareness about the dangers of Sharia law and its incompatibility with American legal principles, constitutional governance, and individual liberty.” Sam Westrop, director of the Middle East Forum’s Islamist Watch project and senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the Daily Signal that Suleiman is America’s leading Islamist voice. “Omar Suleiman is a prominent radical American imam with millions of followers, not just in the United States, but all across the globe. [He] is a pioneer of the Texas-based modernist Salafi movement, whose influence has shaped the development of Islamism globally in recent years,” Westrop said. “While Suleiman spent many years attempting to intersperse his Islamist ideals with progressivist talking points, in recent years he has rediscovered his inner unabashed radical.” Westrop added: “He has served as a leading apologist for Hamas’ October 7 attacks, expressed support for convicted Al-Qaeda terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, and recently appeared to delight in the death of Lindsey Graham. He is, arguably, America’s leading Islamist voice.”

Melissa Chaudhry, a Washington State Democrat running for the state’s 9th Congressional District, told the Daily Signal that the Democratic Party has silenced the candidate for not embracing the LGBTQ+ community. The controversy comes after Chaudhry, who has already been endorsed by local advocacy groups in her race to unseat longtime incumbent Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., allegedly said in an interview that she excluded endorsements from local LGBTQ+ organizations on her official campaign website because it “alienates Muslim voters.” According to a 2025 Pew Research Center study, over half of U.S. Muslims do not believe same-sex relationships should be accepted by society. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Signal, Chaudhry said she now regrets making those remarks. “I gave one answer I don’t stand by. I’ve corrected it publicly, repeatedly, on the record,” she said. “That is a fact about one bad moment under pressure. It is not, and never has been, a fact about my religion or my commitment to dignity, equality, and justice for all.” Chaudhry’s remarks come after the LGBTQ caucus of the Washington State Democratic Party urged local leaders and organizations to rescind their endorsements of her campaign. She then referred to the interview as a “hostile, adversarial endorsement interview under sustained pressure from an aggressive political opponent and a panel that followed her lead.” The political opponent being referred to is Kshama Sawant, who served on the Seattle City Council for 10 years before making her bid for the congressional seat Chaudhry is also running for. Sawant did not immediately respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment. Aside from taking aim against her opponent, Chaudhry believes the local Democratic Party is attempting to silence her over her previous remarks and lack of action when it comes to the LGBTQ community. The Washington State Democratic Party did not return a request for comment by the Daily Signal. “The Stonewall Democrats actively refused to allow me to introduce my candidacy at the Washington State Democratic Convention [on] June 20, or they would have heard all this from me directly,” Chaudhry said. “And no one from that body has reached out to me to clarify.” Prior to her remarks, the chair of the Stonewall Democrats, Andrew Ashiofu, wrote in a social media post that what is “alarming is her [Chaudhry’s] acknowledgment that she omitted LGBTQ+ protections from her platform because she feared it would alienate parts of her coalition.” “Our community is not expendable. LGBTQ+ rights are not optional. They are foundational to any candidate seeking Democratic support,” Ashiofu said. The Stonewall Democrats did not immediately respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment. In Chaudhry’s statements to the Daily Signal, she attributed the alleged backlash against her to Islamophobia. “It sure looks like bias against me for my modest dress and headscarf,” she said. “I am a natural and sincere ally [of the LGBTQ+ community]. Infighting such as this does the bigots’ and billionaires’ divide-and-conquer work for them, and it’s infuriating. Such a waste of time.” Chaudhry added that she has “supported full equality” all throughout her life and has close family and friends who are gay or lesbian. She said this is clearly reflected in her campaign. “My platform’s core language … has been consistent since before this race began, and it includes LGBTQ+ people fully, explicitly.”