Recently, there has been a scandal in Minnesota surrounding Somali-owned daycares in the area. Unfortunately, many aspects of this case are being misconstrued and are allegedly being used to serve an ulterior motive.
Nick Shirely, a right-wing Youtuber uploaded a video on December 26th to “expose” a variety of Somali daycares not providing the proper care to children in these centers. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in Congress immediately sent support to this video. Vice President JD Vance said Shirley “has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes.” This video was not the first time Shirley had been to these daycares, and she would just lie and say he wanted to enroll a child. Many of these daycares saw the cameras and a group of masked men with him and told him to leave. This didn’t stop him; however, he claimed that he had not seen any children within the area and therefore was proof of the fraud happening in these facilities.
This claim was never proven, children are normally kept within the building, including security setups to ensure no child gets lost or injured, so saying there is fraud without actually seeing the inside of the daycare does not provide legitimate facts to the case. After the video was released, Minnesota’s Office of Inspector General began visits to nine of the ten day care centers featured. Investigators found normal schedules occurring except in one center, which had not yet opened for the day. While further reviews are ongoing at four facilities, the state has not specified the focus of those investigations. Importantly, state records show that none of the centers were cited for fraud.
Several centers did have licensing violations related to cleanliness, staff supervision, and recordkeeping, but these issues were unrelated to financial fraud. Only one center shown in the video had ties to a previous fraud investigation, though no charges were ever filed. Its owner later sued the state, alleging Somali providers are unfairly being targeted. Following the video, Somali-owned day cares reported harassment and threats of break-ins. Providers have stated growing fears for immigration enforcement to come for immigrant staff and children. In response to the case, the Trump administration announced a freeze on federal child care, which funded five Democratic leaning states, including Minnesota. The freeze affected a substantial amount of child care and family assistance funds, which led the states to sue over this complication. A federal judge had the funds to be released while the case progressed. Although Minnesota has funds to temporarily cover child care costs, officials have stated that new documentation requirements could delay payments and strain day care operations.
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