The Trump administration and House Republicans moved jointly Wednesday to crack down on Minnesota day care centers run by Somali immigrants after allegations that they had fraudulently pocketed millions in federal tax dollars for inactive and potentially nonexistent facilities.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced a hearing next week on the alleged misuse of federal funds, with testimony from Republican state lawmakers who have investigated federal assistance fraud.
Embattled Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who was his party’s nominee for vice president in 2024, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison are slated to testify at a second hearing in February.
One day after the administration announced it would freeze all child care payments to Minnesota, Vice President J.D. Vance said the Trump administration would take even more actions to stamp out the alleged fraud.
One action under consideration is the denaturalization of Somali Americans involved in the fraud schemes. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Department of Homeland Security is considering revoking the Somalis’ citizenship.
“We’re also not afraid to use denaturalization,” Ms. Leavitt said Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.” “That’s a tool at the president and the secretary of state’s disposal. And it’s one this administration has previously used before.”
SEE ALSO: House GOP to hold hearings with Gov. Walz, Minnesota officials on social services fraud
The joint actions show that Republicans, including President Trump, have seized on the reports of fraud to ramp up pressure on Mr. Walz and other Democrats in his state, claw back misspent federal funds and raise concerns about Somali immigrants living in Minnesota.
In a Truth Social post, Mr. Trump placed the blame for the scandal squarely on Somali immigrants. He said they are responsible for as much as 90% of the fraud and should be sent back to their home country, which he called the “worst and perhaps most corrupt country on earth.”
Mr. Walz, who took office in 2019, is fighting for his political future as the pressure intensifies. He is facing calls to resign over the scandals, some of which date back several years and may have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, according to federal prosecutors.
As affordability is increasingly becoming a key issue for the 2026 midterm elections, the high cost of child care is a persistent financial strain for many parents nationwide. If the allegations are factual, it means hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted in Minnesota on essentially nonexistent day care.
About three-quarters of American adults see child care costs as a “major problem,” according to a June poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Mr. Walz fired back late Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of politicizing the fraud issue to hurt low-income Minnesotans. He has acknowledged fraud is an issue but has disputed the amount and insisted his office will get to the bottom of it.
“This is Trump’s long game,” Mr. Walz posted late Tuesday on X. “We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue — but this has been his plan all along.
“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” he added.
Mr. Walz’s efforts to deflect the blame back onto Mr. Trump are unlikely to forestall House Republicans, who have opened a full investigation into the matter.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, asked Mr. Walz and Mr. Ellison in December to turn over documents and communications related to the state’s programs and sought transcribed interviews with state officials. Whistleblowers have indicated that state Department of Human Services employees are destroying evidence, Mr. Comer said.
“This misconduct cannot be swept aside, and Congress will not stop until taxpayers get the answers and accountability they deserve,” he said.
Mr. Comer said Mr. Walz and Mr. Ellison have “either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs.”
After a slew of actions announced Tuesday to crack down on the widespread fraud, Mr. Vance said more actions are on the way, but he did not identify any specific measures.
“Turning off payments and forcing verification before taxpayer money flows out the door is one of the most important steps we can take to end the fraud in Minnesota. But there will be many more to come,” Mr. Vance wrote on X.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a freeze on all federal child care payments to Minnesota and implemented more stringent requirements for child care payments nationwide.
HHS announced that “justification and receipt or photo evidence” will be required before money is distributed. It also launched a fraud-reporting hotline and email address.
The agency is demanding that Mr. Walz submit an audit of the centers that includes attendance, records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.
HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said the measures were necessary to stop “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.”
The Administration for Children and Families, an agency within HHS, provides $185 million in child care funds to Minnesota, according to its data.
Republicans were spurred to action by a viral video from conservative journalist Nick Shirley, who visited 10 Minnesota day care facilities funded by federal tax dollars and found them to be inactive or not caring for children. State investigators cited several of them for safety violations.
One of the day care centers, the Quality Learning Center in South Minneapolis, had received a large amount of state funds but appeared inactive. It also had a sign that spelled “learning” as “learing.”
State and federal investigators have spent years probing 14 Minnesota-run safety net programs, including child nutrition, housing and autism assistance. Federal prosecutors estimated this month that more than $9 billion in federal funds had been stolen since 2018. That would account for nearly half the federal funds doled out by taxpayers.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota has said Somali Americans make up 82 of the 92 defendants in the fraud investigations.
“Much of the Minnesota fraud, up to 90%, is caused by people that came into our country, illegally from Somalia,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “Send them back to where they came, Somalia, perhaps the worst and most corrupt country on earth.”
In recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have stepped up immigration and law enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Justice Department officials have been investigating fraud accusations involving members of Minnesota’s Somali community for years.
In 2022, federal prosecutors announced initial indictments in what they described as a $250 million scheme to defraud a federally funded child nutrition program.
Some estimates have priced the fraud as high as $1 billion, and state and federal officials are still investigating.
Federal prosecutors have charged 77 people and alleged that Aimee Bock is the mastermind of the operation that defrauded the nutrition center.
She was convicted in March on four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of bribery, and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery of federal programs.
• Mary McCue Bell can be reached at mbell@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.