Minnesota Governor Tim Walz re-election bid is in deep trouble, and his office issued an emergency damage control statement Sunday after a viral video blew up the Minnesota welfare fraud scandal.
An independent journalist took video of empty daycare facilities collecting millions in taxpayer funds with no children present.
Independent journalist Nick Shirley’s 42-minute investigative report shows locked doors, misspelled signs, and zero children at multiple Minnesota childcare centers that have received millions of dollars in government payments.
One facility, “Quality Learing Center,” was empty despite holding a license for 99 children. The center has collected millions in federal taxpayer money over several years. When Shirley approached the building on a weekday, no children were visible and a woman at the site accused him of being with immigration enforcement (ICE).
These facilities reportedly operate as “ghost daycares” — businesses that claim to serve large numbers of children to receive government welfare, but provide little to no actual childcare.
Shirley claimed to uncover over $110 million in fraud during one day of investigating Minnesota facilities.
Take a look –
Walz attempted damage control Sunday evening by posting state rankings on social media. “#8 state for safety. #5 state to live in. #3 state for jobs. #2 state to raise a family, and #2 state to retire,” Walz wrote. “We’ve made progress, but there’s more to do to deliver security, opportunity, and freedom to every Minnesotan. I won’t quit fighting until we’re #1.”
Shirley responded with one line: “Don’t forget #1 for fraud.”
Don’t forget #1 for fraud https://t.co/0rjkz6VVcT
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 28, 2025
A spokesperson for Walz later defended the governor amid the massive welfare fraud scandal, which has uncovered over a billion dollars in stolen taxpayer funds.
“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,” the spokesperson said. “He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.”
Walz’ office claimed they’ve “hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
So far, the Feeding Our Future scandal resulted in 78 indictments and 57 convictions for stealing hundreds of millions from a federal child nutrition program during COVID-19. Federal prosecutors say only 3% of the funding went to actual food.
Since then, the scandal has spiraled into over a billion dollars in fraud throughout Minnesota and extends to housing stabilization programs, autism services, and Medicaid.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced increased FBI resources in Minnesota before the recent investigation went viral.
“To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID,” Patel wrote. “The investigation exposed sham vendors, shell companies, and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network.”
“The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing. Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigrations officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible.”
U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said Minnesota has become “a national poster child for public corruption” and said the state has developed what he calls a “fraud tourism industry – people coming to our state purely to exploit and defraud its programs.”
Thompson said in September that fraud connected to these programs “has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money.”
Some of the fraudulently obtained funds allegedly ended up with the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab. Many defendants in the Feeding Our Future case spent stolen money on luxury cars, homes, vacations, and first-class plane tickets to destinations including the Maldives.