Justice Department moves to strip citizenship from Feeding Our Future defendant

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to revoke the citizenship of a Somali-American man who was convicted in the Feeding Our Future fraud case. The department announced the action in a news release on Monday, June 8, 2026, listing Abdikadir Kadiye among the latest people it is trying to denaturalize.

Kadiye, 54, pleaded guilty in 2023 to wire fraud for his part in a scheme to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs during the COVID pandemic. He is still awaiting sentencing.

Neither the news release nor the court filings in the denaturalization case mention that conviction. The complaint instead centers on events from the late 1990s. Filings in both cases list the same age and home address for Kadiye.

According to the complaint, Kadiye first applied for U.S. residency under the name Liban Mohamud Degel. An immigration judge rejected that bid in 1999 and ordered him to leave the country. The Board of Immigration Appeals later turned down his appeal and issued a warrant of removal in 2001.

Authorities allege he remained in the country, applied for citizenship as Abdikadir Kadiye and was naturalized in 2012. The complaint says fingerprints from the two applications confirm that Degel and Kadiye are the same person. The Justice Department contends that his "conduct to conceal his actions statutorily barred him from becoming a U.S. citizen" and that he illegally procured his naturalization.

The complaint also describes a 2014 encounter at O'Hare Airport, where Kadiye allegedly told a Customs and Border Patrol agent that he had unsuccessfully tried to enter the United States using the identity of Liban M. Degel. Border officials closed the deferred inspection because he was a U.S. citizen, the complaint says.

Kadiye is at least the second Minnesotan targeted for denaturalization. In May, the Justice Department began proceedings against Salah Osman Ahmed, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to providing material support to al-Shabab, the Somali militant group the U.S. government has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

Denaturalization cases are rare. Under federal immigration law, the Justice Department must present "clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence" that a person was ineligible for citizenship or lied during the naturalization process.

No attorney is listed for Kadiye in the denaturalization case. C. Connor Cremens, who represents him in the Feeding Our Future case, declined to comment.

Kadiye's 2023 indictment said he used his business, Hoybo Health Care Foundation, to submit false claims worth $1.1 million for 445,000 meals he said were served to children at sites in Minneapolis, Eden Prairie and Minnetonka. Prosecutors said he spent the money on mortgage and credit card bills and bought real estate in south Minneapolis. Investigators also found wire transfers he made to buy vehicles, including a Toyota Tundra pickup and a BMW SUV.

His plea agreement calls for a prison term of 27 to 33 months. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel has not yet scheduled a sentencing hearing.