The now-infamous Quality Learning Center in Minneapolis, widely mocked for its misspelled signage and scrutinized for alleged fraud, has officially shut down. According to state records, the child care facility’s license was formally closed on January 6, 2026.
The closure follows national attention after journalist Nick Shirley visited the facility in late December as part of an exposé into alleged Somali daycare fraud in Minnesota. Shirley’s video revealed the center appeared abandoned during business hours and prominently featured a sign that read “Quality Learing Center,” prompting ridicule and concern about legitimacy.
Despite the embarrassing sign, what drew real scrutiny was the nearly $10 million the center received in taxpayer funds since 2019, including $1.9 million just in 2025 through Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program. Although a man who claimed to be the manager, Ibrahim Ali, insisted the center was functioning normally and accused Shirley of targeting Somali-Americans, the situation only escalated. Days after the video went viral, the sign was corrected, and children were seen entering the facility—leading some locals to suspect a staged response.
“We’ve never seen kids go in there until today. That parking lot is empty all the time,” one resident told the press.
While state officials originally claimed the daycare had quietly shut down in late December, a spokeswoman later corrected that statement, saying the center had decided to remain open. That decision didn’t last. Two weeks later, with the fraud spotlight intensifying, the operators appear to have changed course, and the state officially terminated the license.
The facility’s problems extended far beyond misspellings and suspicious foot traffic. State inspectors cited the daycare for a staggering 121 violations between 2019 and 2023, including missing attendance logs, absent immunization records, and failure to document physical exams. These infractions placed it among the worst-performing daycares in the state, where most centers average zero violations during annual inspections.
The Quality Learning Center became emblematic of deeper concerns over daycare and welfare fraud within Minnesota’s Somali community. The federal government recently charged dozens of individuals with fraud related to child care and food assistance programs. Most of the defendants are of Somali descent, sparking a political firestorm and calls for increased oversight.
The controversy has drawn a firm response from the Trump administration, which deployed 2,000 federal agents to Minneapolis as part of a broader crackdown on immigration and welfare fraud. That operation led to clashes in the streets this week, culminating in a woman being fatally shot by an ICE agent after she allegedly attempted to run him over with her SUV.
Anti-ICE protests have intensified since the shooting, with demonstrators gathering outside federal facilities and schools closing out of safety concerns. Still, the administration appears undeterred. With President Trump promising to clean up corruption and restore law and order, more enforcement actions are expected in the coming weeks.
As for the shuttered “Quality Learning Center,” it now stands as a symbol of what critics say is a broken system riddled with abuse, lax oversight, and politically protected fraud—something the Trump administration seems determined to bring to light.
The post Minneapolis Quality ‘Learing’ Center Is Officially Closed, State Records Show appeared first on Real News Now.
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