Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations descended on Minneapolis Monday, conducting door-to-door operations at businesses believed to be involved in widespread fraud tied to daycare and healthcare funding. The probe appears to be zeroing in on operations with alleged ties to the city’s Somali immigrant community.
A video posted by the Department of Homeland Security showed two agents entering a convenience store and questioning the clerk about a nearby facility suspected of receiving government funding without operating as a legitimate business. The agents’ presence comes just days after independent journalist Nick Shirley published a viral exposé revealing numerous shuttered daycare centers across Minneapolis still collecting millions in taxpayer dollars.
“The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is being used and ARRESTS when abuse is found,” the department wrote on social media. “Under the leadership of [Secretary Kristi Noem], DHS is working to deliver results.”
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted additional footage, confirming a “large scale investigation on fraudulent daycare and healthcare centers, as well as other rampant fraud” is underway.
FBI Director Kash Patel echoed those concerns over the weekend, saying his agency has already “surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
Patel referenced the earlier Feeding Our Future scandal, in which a nonprofit received tens of millions in COVID relief funds to feed underprivileged children but allegedly never distributed the promised meals. The case led to dozens of indictments — and according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota, 82 of the 92 individuals charged were Somali Americans.
“This is just the tip of a very large iceberg,” Patel said. “We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing.”
The investigation has renewed scrutiny on Minnesota’s Democrat Governor Tim Walz, who has touted his state’s inclusive policies but now finds himself at the center of one of the largest fraud scandals in U.S. history. Earlier this year, Walz promoted efforts to make it easier to open childcare businesses — a claim that resurfaced during a vice presidential debate clip widely circulated online after Shirley’s video went viral.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called out Walz and Minnesota’s political establishment for what he sees as lax enforcement and dangerous tolerance of systemic corruption. His recent immigration operations have targeted Minneapolis and other areas with high concentrations of Somali immigrants.
Despite mounting evidence, Walz has largely dismissed the scandal’s ethnic component. When asked earlier this month whether the Somali community needed to be held accountable for the fraud, Walz deflected, saying the majority of fraud in the state was being “committed by white men.” Federal prosecutors sharply contradicted that claim, citing the overwhelming majority of charges — 82 out of 92 — involving Somali Americans.
As investigations continue, agents are expected to remain active on the ground in the Twin Cities, with DHS and the FBI promising swift action against anyone found defrauding federal aid programs.
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