The Trump administration has frozen all federal child care payments to Minnesota following a viral video that found shocking, widespread fraud at daycare facilities in the Somali refugee community across the state.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday it is halting all federal child care payments to Minnesota in the wake of a 43-minute video posted Friday by independent journalist Nick Shirley that has been viewed more than 100 million times across social media platforms.
The video documented Shirley’s visits to nearly a dozen daycare centers in Minneapolis that appeared largely empty or inactive despite allegedly receiving millions in taxpayer funds.
“You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade,” HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement posted to X on Tuesday. “We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud.”
In addition to freezing Minnesota payments, HHS announced new nationwide requirements for child care funding.
All payments handled by the Administration for Children and Families will now “require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence before we send money to a state,” according to the HHS statement. Assistant Secretary Alex Adams emphasized the significance of the policy change in a video statement posted with O’Neill’s announcement.
One of the most widely shared clips from Shirley’s viral report focused on the Quality Learning Center, which displayed a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center.”
The video shows that the center is licensed for 99 children and allegedly received $4 million in state funds, including $1.9 million in fiscal year 2025 from the Child Care Assistance Program.
In most cases shown in the video, Shirley and his partner were either unable to get anyone to answer the door or were refused entry to the facilities.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Republican who represents Twin Cities suburbs and St. Cloud, responded to the video with sharp criticism of Governor Tim Walz.
“4 million dollars of hard-earned tax dollars going to an education center that can’t even spell learning correctly,” Emmer wrote on social media. “This is a microcosm of the corruption and fraud Tim Walz allowed to persist throughout our state.”
Vice President JD Vance also weighed in, calling the alleged fraud a “microcosm of immigration fraud” and demanding action against those responsible.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the investigation into alleged fraud “a top priority for the administration.”
In addition to the daycare investigations and HHS move, the Small Business Administration paused grants to Minnesota on Monday, citing concerns about widespread fraud.