Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families on Friday said that investigators have found child care facilities at the center of recent fraud allegations were operating as they should.
The department issued the statement in response to requests for information about the Child Care Assistance Program, which it oversees grants from, and referenced a “recently circulated video.”
The Trump administration, and President Donald Trump himself, have alleged fraud in Minnesota after a recent video from a right-wing online influencer named Nick Shirley contained unsubstantiated claims of fraud at child care facilities in the state.
The department said in the statement that investigators with its Office of Inspector General conducted compliance checks at nine centers referenced in the viral video.
“Investigators confirmed the centers were operating as expected, gathered evidence and initiated further review,” the department said in a statement Friday.
“Children were present at all sites except for one — that site, was not yet open for families for the day when inspectors arrived,” it said.
The department said it has ongoing investigations into four of the centers, and 55 investigations into providers that receive funding from the Child Care Assistance Program, which it oversees.
Following Shirley’s video, which gained traction in right-wing circles, the federal Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that it was freezing all federal child care payments to Minnesota.
The nine centers in the video received a total of $17.4 million in CCAP funding in the 2025 fiscal year, the department said. One of the centers has been closed since 2022, it said.
FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday said that the FBI had “surged” investigative resources and personnel to Minnesota before Shirley’s video went viral.
The Justice Department has been investigating fraud in the state for several years.
There was a $250 million fraud scheme involving the Feeding Our Future nonprofit in Minnesota that, beginning in 2022, has resulted in criminal charges against 78 people so far, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the state. The scheme involved charges against some defendants who are members of Minnesota’s Somali community.
The “mastermind” of the scheme was Aimee Bock, who is white, according to the federal prosecutor’s office. She was convicted along with Salim Said of wire fraud and other counts in March.
Bock has not yet been sentenced. Prosecutors said that the scheme involved federal Covid-19 relief funds for meals for children that instead were used to fund lavish lifestyles.
Some of the criminal cases are ongoing. The most recent person charged, the 78th, was indicted last month. One of the dozens charged was sentenced in September to 10 years in prison.
The federal prosecutor’s office has called it the largest Covid-19 fraud scheme in the country.
A state audit released in 2024 found that the Minnesota Department of Education did not properly oversee Feeding Our Future.
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families in Friday’s statement said that it “remains committed to fact-based reviews that stop fraud.”
“Distribution of unvetted or deceptive claims and misuse of tip lines can interfere with investigations, create safety risks for families, providers, and employers, and has contributed to harmful discourse about Minnesota’s immigrant communities,” it said.
Trump has criticized the Somali community in the U.S. before the latest allegations. Trump, without providing evidence, wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, “Much of the Minnesota Fraud, up to 90%, is caused by people that came into our Country, illegally, from Somalia.”
Trump also attacked U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., the first Somali American to serve in Congress, calling her a “loser” and writing: “Send them back from where they came, Somalia, perhaps the worst, and most corrupt, country on earth.”
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the United States. Civil war in Somalia that led to the overthrow of its then-dictator in 1991 led thousands of immigrants to seek homes in more stable countries, including the U.S.
The East African country currently has a federal government, following a transitional governmental period that ended in 2012.
