WATCH: Gov. Walz testifies that Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown has hampered the fight against fraud in Minnesota

Minnesota’s governor and attorney general on Wednesday defended their anti-fraud efforts, telling a U.S. House committee that their efforts were hampered by President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown in the state.

Watch the full House oversight hearing in the video player above.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee accused Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison of dragging their feet on combating fraud in government programs, saying they are putting politics ahead of rooting out abuses rather than pausing payments.

Read more: Minnesota files lawsuit to block Trump administration from withholding $243 million in Medicaid funds

“You have not been good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s chairman. “The Democratic position is to keep the money flowing. American taxpayers have had enough.”

Walz said he wants to work with the federal government to help with fraud investigations, but increased immigration makes that more difficult.

“The people of Minnesota have been targeted for political retaliation on an unparalleled scale,” Walz said. He added: “We will prosecute, as we did, everyone involved in the fraud, but we cannot do it alone.”

Read more: Judge extends Minnesota refugee protection order from arrest and deportation

Walz and Ellison defended their anti-fraud efforts, while also trying to shift the focus of the session to the increase in the number of federal agents in Minnesota by about 3,000 in December. The Trump administration cited fraud as one of the justifications for its executive actions. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified Tuesday that about 650 investigators remain in Minnesota as part of a broader fraud investigation.

“Operation Metro Surge has done nothing to address fraud in our state,” Ellison said. “It has hurt our economy, harmed our people, and dealt a devastating blow to Minnesota’s fraud enforcement.”

Ellison pointed to a series of resignations of attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, leaving those who remain “mired in immigration petitions” rather than prosecuting fraud. On Tuesday, the US Attorney for Minnesota appeared before a judge for a hearing related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement violations and failure to return detainees’ personal property.

He watches: Vance says the administration is pausing some Medicaid funding for Minnesota over fraud concerns

Ellison said his office “punched above our weight” in winning 300 Medicaid fraud convictions and recovering more than $80 million for taxpayers.

Republican Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana called on Ellison to resign, accusing him of not leading investigations into criminal fraud activity.

Last week, Vice President J.D. Vance said the Trump administration would “temporarily suspend” $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as a crackdown on the misuse of public funds. The state of Minnesota filed a lawsuit on Monday to stop the withholding of the funds, warning that it may have to cut health care for low-income families if the funds are withheld.

Comer accused Walz on Wednesday of not stopping Medicaid payments despite knowing about the fraud because he “didn’t want to rock the boat.”

Comer and other Republicans accused Walz of lying when he first discovered fraud in a $250 million scheme known as “Feeding Our Future” and of stalling on taking action to protect the Somali American community. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio asked Walz if he knew how many Somali Americans had been charged.

“Their ethnicity doesn’t worry me,” Walz said.

He watches: Trump administration halts Minnesota Medicaid funding over fraud allegations

Somali Americans make up 82 of the 92 defendants charged so far in the “Feeding Our Future” case, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, as part of an effort to focus the hearing on the immigration crackdown, held up photos of children detained by federal officers and a photo of the bloodstained car seat of Rene Judd, who was killed by an officer. Federal officers also killed a Minnesota resident, Alex Pretty, who was filming law enforcement operations.

“This violence does not make us safer,” Garcia said. “It does not address fraud, waste and abuse.”