James Lynch writes for National Review Online about the Trump administration’s approach to revelations of Somali fraud against American taxpayers.
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.
