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secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem have Announce Federal agents conducting ‘massive investigation into child care and other rampant practices’ Fraud” exist minnesota was in response to a video that went viral on YouTube over the weekend.
this Department of Homeland Security subsequently Detailed In a follow-up social media post, investigators “are on the ground investigating.” minneapolisgoing door to door to check suspected fraudulent websites. “
It added: “The American people deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent and have abuses arrested when abuses are discovered.”
Both posts were accompanied by video of two Homeland Security Investigators interviewing Burnsville small business owners as part of the crackdown.
The Department of Homeland Security was forced to take action on Friday after right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a 42-minute video claiming that 10 daycare centers run by members of the state’s Somali-American community had embezzled “more than $100 million” in taxpayer funds.
At one point in the video, Shirley visits a Somali-owned education center that has a misspelled sign saying it received $4 million in funding. Shirley asked the owners about the state funding they received and where the children said to be attending the institution were.
According to available metrics, his videos have been viewed by more than a million people on streaming platforms and tens of millions on X.
Shirley was praised by the Vice President JD Vance Saturday, who release: “This guy is doing far more useful journalism than any of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winners.”
director of the fbi Kashi Patel return responded In response to Shirley’s film, the bureau wrote that it believed the issues he raised were “just the tip of the iceberg” and pledged to investigate further.
Tiki Brown, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families, responded Monday: Comment: “While we have questions about some of the methods used in the video, we do take the fraud concerns raised by the video very seriously.”
“When was the video taken?” she asked. “Is it during the scheduled opening time of the center? Is it on the weekend?”
Brown said state inspectors investigated all 10 facilities named in Shirley’s report over the past six months as part of standard licensing inspections and found no evidence of fraud to justify suspending payments to any center.
“Investigations are ongoing at several of these centres,” she said. “None of these investigations revealed fraud.”
However, the commissioner added that all 10 films will now be re-examined to alleviate concerns raised by the films.
Brown’s department said it has opened 55 open investigations related to the state’s child care assistance program but cannot release information about active cases for fear of jeopardizing those cases.
Minnesota Governor’s Office Tim Walz, at the same time, explain In a statement: “The governor has been working to combat fraud for years and has asked the state Legislature for more authority to take aggressive action.
“He has increased oversight, including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which has since been closed. He hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced the appointment of a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
Walz’s government Still under pressure The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota said earlier this month that 14 of the state’s vulnerable Medicaid programs have been targeted since 2018, which could mean as much as $9 billion or more could have been stolen, roughly half of the total available funds.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said: “The scale of this fraud is not small. It is not isolated. The scale cannot be overstated.” explain. “What we saw in Minnesota was not a handful of bad actors committing a crime. This was a shocking, industrial-scale fraud.”
The investigation has become politically and culturally fraught because 85 of the 98 defendants charged so far are Somali-Americans. According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondiprompting the president Donald Trump claims the community “scammed the state” while labeling Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
Trump has also denigrated Somalis more broadly, calling them “trash” and claiming they have “nothing to contribute” to American life, stoking racist and xenophobic sentiments among Democrats and liberals.
Minnesota Republican Congressman Tom Emer On Monday, he added fuel to the fire. wrote About X: “Three words about Somalis committing fraud against American taxpayers: Send them home.
“If they are here illegally, deport them immediately; if they are naturalized citizens, revoke their citizenship and then deport them quickly.”