Homeland Security agents fanned out across Minnesota on Monday for what DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described as a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud,” and much of the scrutiny was triggered not by government audits, but by a viral social media video that state officials are now scrambling to explain.
The footage, posted over the weekend by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, alleged that nearly a dozen publicly funded daycare centers across the state were collecting taxpayer money while providing little to no actual childcare. By Monday, the video had surpassed 1 million views on YouTube and spread to tens of millions more on X, putting immediate pressure on state and federal agencies.
“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,” Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown said.
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As DHS agents launched their probe, state officials also visited several of the facilities highlighted in the video. They told CBS News that two of the centers had already shut down earlier this year, though one later informed regulators it planned to remain open.
Shirley’s reporting did not stop at empty daycare buildings. In a separate clip, he attempted to locate a company called Advanced Mobility inside a Somali-owned business center in Minnesota. Instead of answers, Shirley was abruptly forced out of the building by several Somali men who escorted him off the premises. Toward the end of the clip, one man can be heard angrily repeating, “Why don’t you go to a white business?”
The confrontation fueled further outrage online, as critics questioned why a journalist investigating publicly funded operations was met with hostility rather than transparency.
CBS News reviewed state records for nearly a dozen daycare centers named by Shirley and found all but two held active licenses. Regulators had visited all active sites within the last six months, including Sweet Angel Child Care Inc., which underwent an unannounced inspection on Dec. 4. Dozens of citations related to safety, cleanliness, equipment and staff training were found, though no formal fraud findings were listed.
The inspections come amid a broader reckoning over Minnesota’s long-running fraud problems, particularly those exposed during the COVID era. Prosecutors have described the Feeding Our Future case alone as a $250 million scam, the largest pandemic aid fraud in the nation. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson warned last week that the scale of fraud in Minnesota “cannot be overstated.”
So far, 78 people have been arrested in the Feeding Our Future scheme. Most are Somali Americans, though the group’s convicted leader, Aimee Bock, is not. Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the country.
President Donald Trump has blasted the state as a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” and last month moved to end protected status for Somali nationals. ICE’s Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities has already resulted in more than 400 arrests.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., summed up the growing anger late Monday.
“I have 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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