The US Department of Health and Human Services says it has frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota, as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigate allegations of fraud, including at child care centers, in the latest show of federal force in the state — home to the country’s largest Somali population.
Deputy Secretary of HHS Jim O’Neill announced the funding freeze on X Tuesday, weeks after ICE launched operations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to specifically target undocumented Somali immigrants, precipitated by revelations about widespread fraud against the state as well as President Donald Trump’s comments that he “doesn’t want” Somalis in the country.
The stepped-up effort also comes days after YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who has created anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim videos in the past, posted a viral video in which he claimed to find widespread fraud at Somali-run child care centers. The video, which includes limited evidence for the creator’s allegations, has received more than 2 million views on YouTube as of Tuesday morning and was retweeted by Vice President JD Vance and former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk.
In addition to demanding a state audit of the Minnesota day care centers featured in the video, O’Neill said the agency would now require justification and receipts or photo evidence for all payments to states from the department’s Administration of Children and Families.
“Funds will be released only when states prove they are being spent legitimately,” O’Neill said.
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