Stop Fraud by SOMALIA Act

Key Points

• The bill creates a permanent ban for any child care provider found guilty of fraud from ever again receiving federal child care assistance. Providers cannot get around the ban by changing their name, reorganizing, merging, or repaying stolen funds.
• States must reimburse the federal government for any child care funds obtained through fraud. If states do not pay back the money directly, the federal government can deduct the amount from the state's future child care budget.
• Non-citizens who commit child care fraud face severe immigration consequences including being declared inadmissible, deportable, ineligible for asylum, ineligible for adjustment of status, and subject to mandatory detention and expedited removal.
• The bill specifically targets individuals who use stolen child care funds to support terrorist organizations like Al-Shabaab and the PLO. Anyone associated with these groups who also committed child care fraud would be permanently barred from the U.S.
• The immigration-related provisions apply retroactively to fraud committed as far back as September 30, 1996, as long as the person has not yet been arrested, charged, or indicted. The bill also lets agencies skip normal rulemaking and paperwork requirements to speed up implementation.