The Trump administration is going door to door investigating childcare fraud in Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community as the scandal continues to receive national attention.
The Department of Homeland Security sent investigative agents to examine Somali-run childcare facilities to determine whether they are abusing taxpayer funds after a YouTuber brought national attention to seemingly empty daycares receiving public funding.
“DHS is on the ground in Minneapolis, going DOOR TO DOOR at suspected fraud sites. The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is being used and ARRESTS when abuse is found,” DHS announced Tuesday on social media.
“Our agents are conducting a massive operation to identify, arrest, and remove criminals who are defrauding the American people at daycares, healthcare facilities, and other suspected sites. We will not stop until we’ve rooted out this rampant fraud plaguing Minnesota,” the agency said in a follow-up post.
Accompanying the posts were videos of DHS agents talking to employees for their investigation. DHS has not announced any new arrests or criminal charges up to this point.
The door-to-door investigation comes after Nick Shirley went viral earlier this week for sharing a video of himself visiting Somali-run facilities and asking about where the taxpayer funds are going. Shirley’s video garnered over 100 million views on X and caught the eye of Vice President JD Vance and other political leaders.
Somali welfare fraud across various government programs under Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D) has become a national scandal and the target of increased federal scrutiny. Earlier this month, prosecutors announced they were broadening their sweeping investigation into fraud, with a focus on 14 different Medicaid-funded programs meant to help the poor. Federal prosecutors’ initial assessment concluded that over half of the $18 billion of federal funds spent on the programs since 2018 was fraudulent.
Six additional defendants were charged in December for the ongoing fraud scandal, bringing the total number of defendants to 98 thus far. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday that 85 of the defendants are Somali and more than 60 individuals have been found guilty. She thanked law enforcement for its role in investigating the Covid-19 fraud scheme Feeding Our Future, for which 78 defendants have been charged, including 72 people of Somali descent. Several Feeding Our Future defendants attempted to bribe jurors and faced prosecution for doing so.
James Lynch is a news writer for National Review. He previously was a reporter for the Daily Caller. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and based in the Washington, D.C. area.
Reprinted with permission from National Review by James Lynch.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.