Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has announced that federal agents are carrying out “a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud” in Minnesota in response to a YouTube video that went viral over the weekend.
The DHS subsequently elaborated in a follow-up social media post that investigators are “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,” it added.
Both posts were accompanied by videos of two Homeland Security Investigations agents interviewing small business owners in Burnsville as part of the crackdown.
The DHS was compelled to move after right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a 42-minute video on Friday in which he alleged that 10 day care centers run by members of the state’s Somali-American community had misappropriated “upwards of $100 million” in taxpayer funds.
At one point in the video, Shirley visits a Somali-owned education center with a misspelled sign that has allegedly received $4 million in funds, asking the owners about the state money they have been granted and where the children are who are supposedly enrolled at the facility.
His video has already been viewed by more than a million people on the streaming platform and by tens of millions more on X, according to available metrics.
Shirley was praised by Vice President JD Vance Saturday, who posted: “This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes.”
FBI Director Kash Patel also responded to Shirley’s film, writing that the bureau believes the issues he raised are “just the tip of a very large iceberg,” pledging further investigation.
Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families commissioner Tikki Brown, in turn, responded Monday, commenting: “While we have questions about some of the methods used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously.”
“When were the videos taken?” she asked. “Were they during times that the center was scheduled to be open? Were they during the weekend?”
Brown said that state inspectors had investigated all 10 of the facilities featured in Shirley’s report within the last six months as part of standard licensing checks and that no evidence of fraud had been found to justify suspending payments to any of the centers.
“There have been ongoing investigations with several of those centers,” she said. “None of those investigations have uncovered findings of fraud.”
However, the commissioner added that all 10 would now be re-examined to allay concerns raised by the film.
Brown’s department has said it has 55 open investigations related to the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, but cannot disclose information about active cases to avoid jeopardizing them.
The office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, meanwhile, said in a statement: “The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and asked the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action.
“He has strengthened oversight – including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed. He has hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
Walz’s administration remains under pressure over the issue of fraud after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota suggested earlier this month that the targeting of 14 vulnerable Medicaid programs in the state since 2018 could mean as much as $9 billion or more might have been stolen, approximately half of the total money made available.
“The fraud is not small. It isn’t isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said. “What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s a staggering, industrial-scale fraud.”
The probe has become politically and culturally fraught as Somali-Americans make up 85 of the 98 defendants charged so far, according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, prompting President Donald Trump to claim the community has “ripped off that state” while labeling Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
Trump has also denigrated Somalians more generally by calling them “garbage” and claiming they “contribute nothing” to American life, sparking cries of racism and xenophobia from Democrats and liberals.
Minnesota Republican Rep. Tom Emmer poured further fuel on the flames on Monday when he wrote on X: “Three words regarding Somalis who have committed fraud against American taxpayers: Send them home.
“If they’re here illegally, deport them immediately; if they’re naturalized citizens, revoke their citizenship and deport them quickly thereafter.”
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