Federal officials have identified hundreds of millions of dollars in bulk cash transported from U.S. airports to Somalia over the past several years, with Minnesota and Ohio accounting for the largest volumes, according to information disclosed this week by Kayleigh McEnany and testimony from the Transportation Security Administration.

McEnany reported that Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed unusually large sums of cash being carried out of the country by couriers, triggering federal scrutiny and an ongoing investigation involving multiple agencies.

“Our team has been talking to DHS officials all week, and we have learned that $700 million in cash was flown out of Minneapolis by Somali couriers in the past two years. That’s roughly $350 million a year for 2024 and 2025 now, to put that into perspective, that number is 10 to one compared to bigger airports like JFK and DFW, and we are told that they were about three to 4 million a year. Quite a difference,” McEnany said.

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According to DHS officials cited by McEnany, the cash movements are not limited to Minnesota. Authorities have also tracked large amounts of bulk currency leaving Ohio and being routed overseas.

“But it’s not just Minnesota. It’s also happening in Columbus, Ohio, where officials tell us that since 2023, $136 million in bulk cash was flown from Columbus to Somalia,” McEnany said.

Federal officials outlined the typical transit pattern used to move the cash overseas. The money is initially transported domestically before leaving the United States.

“And now we’re learning more about how the money got from Columbus to Somalia. First bulk cash and luggage flies out of John Glenn Columbus International Airport, then luggage lands in either Minneapolis or Atlanta, before it is sent overseas,” McEnany said.

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DHS sources told McEnany that additional activity has been detected in the Pacific Northwest, though on a smaller scale.

“Meanwhile, these DHS sources told Saturday in America that Seattle is also seeing bulk cash transfers, although we learned it is significantly less than Minnesota and then Ohio,” she said.

McEnany noted that the states identified by DHS correspond with areas that have the largest Somali populations in the United States.

“Now we should note that those are the states with the largest Somali populations in the country, Minnesota, Ohio and Washington,” McEnany said.

The Transportation Security Administration confirmed that its officers identified the bulk cash during routine screening and followed established procedures by notifying law enforcement partners.

Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill addressed the issue during testimony on Capitol Hill, explaining how the cash was detected and reported.

“TSA did indeed report these incidents as it came across the checkpoint, because bulk cash shows up as a mass on the on the X ray and so our officers have to resolve what they can’t identify on the X ray machine, and through the course of their normal day to day duties,” McNeill said.

McNeill said TSA officers are required to escalate such findings in coordination with law enforcement agencies.

“They reported that to our law enforcement partner partners in compliance with their standard operating procedures,” she said.

McNeill confirmed that the matter remains under active investigation and that TSA continues to cooperate with federal authorities.

“I know there’s a, you know, an ongoing investigation with our law enforcement partners. We are part of that,” she said.

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