Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst plans to introduce legislation that would require alleged fraudsters to surrender their passports as a condition of pretrial release, the Daily Caller News Foundation learned Friday.
The “Preventing Fugitive Fraudsters Act” would require defendants accused of government program fraud to surrender their passports upon pretrial release to ensure they cannot flee the U.S. Many defendants accused of fraud were released on bail and fled the U.S. despite warnings that they posed a flight risk.
“Fugitive fraudsters are fleeing justice and the country with stolen taxpayer dollars in tow, enabled by lenient liberal judges letting them keep their passports before trial,” Ernst told the DCNF. “Anyone ripping off hardworking Americans does not need a passport to reach their final destination, which should be behind bars. We need to ground these high-flying con artists for good.”
Preventing Fugitive Fraudsters Act by nicolesilverio
Ernst’s office told the DCNF when asked about potential due process concerns that because there is no right to pretrial release, no due process rights would be infringed.
However, Michael Fox, a CATO Institute legal fellow, told the DCNF that the legislation was a “dangerous solution” that could force low-risk defendants with no foreign connections to unnecessarily surrender their passports. He argued the legislation was rooted in a “profound misunderstanding of federal bail law.”
“The Preventing Fugitive Fraudsters Act is a dangerous solution in search of a problem, arising out of a profound misunderstanding of federal bail law,” Fox told the DCNF. “Under current law, federal judges already possess broad authority to seize passports—or detain individuals pretrial who pose a genuine flight risk— following an individualized determination. By flipping the script and making passport forfeiture the default mandate for these fraud statutes, this bill further empowers prosecutors and unnecessarily sweeps in defendants with deep community ties and zero intention of fleeing the jurisdiction—let alone the country.”
A defendant would not have to surrender their passport if a judge issued “specific written findings of fact” that the surrender would be “unnecessary,” the legislation states.
A number of alleged fraudsters released from custody skipped their court appearances and fled the U.S. to avoid conviction, Ernst’s office told the DCNF. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, an individual named Abdirashid Ismail Said allegedly billed Medicaid for nearly $11 million over four years, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office. During a probation violation hearing, Said allegedly lied under oath by denying any involvement with the scheme.
A case detective warned Said could be a potential flight risk since his wife and child lived in Kenya, according to Fox 9 KMSP. However, a judge presiding over the case released Said from custody on a $150,000 bond, and he skipped his court appearance after appearing to flee the U.S.
Another suspect, Kaamil Omar Sallah, owned a company called SafeLodgings, Inc., which was accused of defrauding Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The state paid Sallah nearly $1.3 million to provide Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) between March 2023 and August 2025, although he allegedly spent much of the funds on himself and investments, including nearly $150,000 in a cryptocurrency exchange.
The DOJ charged Sallah with four counts of wire fraud. Federal agents served Sallah with a grand jury subpoena for company records related to the HSS program in November 2025, though Sallah fled the U.S. to Amsterdam.
Khalid Ahmed Satary and Emylee Thai were added to the FBI’s “Most Wanted Fraudsters” list Tuesday for their alleged involvement in healthcare fraud schemes, FBI Director Kash Patel announced. Satary was allegedly involved in a $547 million healthcare fraud conspiracy tied to a genetic testing scheme. He is believed to be hiding in the United Arab Emirates.
Thai’s laboratory allegedly billed Medicare roughly $142 million for genetic testing and allegedly successfully pocketed about $95 million on those claims.
About $350 million in cash left the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on flights to foreign countries, Minnesota-based Fox 9 reported in March. Lawmakers voiced concerns that some of the money leaving the U.S. was tied to fraud, though investigations were still ongoing.
(DCNF)
