FOX Business correspondent Connor Hansen reports on the Labor Department’s plans to penalize states that are lenient on unemployment fraud on ‘Special Report.’ NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The Department of Labor (DOL), in collaboration with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, has deployed a strike force to New York to recover hundreds of millions in unemployment fraud payments. [snip] New York contributed to $750 million in improper unemployment insurance claims, and has accounted for $507 million of those claims paid out in 2025, according to numbers reported to the federal government by the state. Now, the Trump administration wants to claw back those funds it says were obtained through fraudulent means in the Democrat-led state. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to announce the bipartisan Aviation Safety Caucus and the Safer Skies Act. (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images) New York has the highest unemployment insurance fraud rate in the country at 15%, according to the DOL. The federal government says the state also has the highest improper payment rate at 23%. [snip] A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office told Fox News Digital that she is implementing policies to prevent fraud, which has been a longstanding priority of President Donald Trump’s second term. “Governor Hochul and the State Department of Labor take fraud and abuse very seriously. That’s why the Governor has led the way in implementing several changes since the pandemic to fight waste, fraud and abuse,” the Democrat leader’s spokesperson said. [snip] Gov. Kathy Hochul holds up a 3D-printed gun part, alongside a Lego piece for size comparison, during a press conference held at the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany on March 23, 2026. (Alexander MacDougall/Albany Times Union via Getty Images) The DOL described its collaboration with the recently announced White House Task Force for Eliminating Fraud as “unprecedented.” [snip] “My Administration will use all available resources and authorities to fight fraud, close loopholes, enforce eligibility rules, and protect benefits for eligible Americans, while ensuring States administering Federal benefits programs do the same,” the administration said at the time. Vice President JD Vance speaks next to Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz about combating fraud at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2026. (REUTERS) [snip] “Never before has the U.S. Department of Labor and our Office of Inspector General unleashed this level of coordination in the war on fraud,” D’Esposito said. “Our elite strike teams — powered by top national unemployment insurance experts and OIG special agents — are embedded on the ground in New York to hunt down every lead and dismantle suspected fraud.” “Combined with President Trump and Vice President Vance’s White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, this collaboration has forged the most aggressive and advanced strike teams we have ever assembled.” (*) Full article: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-labor-strike-force-deploys-new-york-weed-staggering-2-million-per-day-fraud Post navigation ‘A Trail To Certain Death’: Speaker Johnson Warns Against Rising Socialist Trend Democratic senator and pal of disgraced Rep. Swalwell gets NAILED with bombshell sexual allegations of his own
