Federal agents probe fraud allegations targeting Somali child care providers in Minnesota

Nick Schifrin:

This week, the Trump administration dispatched federal officers to Minnesota amid renewed concerns over fraud. The deployment comes after right-wing influencer Nick Shirley posted a video on YouTube last week claiming without proof that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had misappropriated more than $100 million.

In response, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X his agency was already investigating and that -- quote -- "This is just the tip of a very large iceberg." And Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted this video yesterday of agents on the ground in Minneapolis.

But state and city officials question Shirley's claims that come as the Somali community in Minneapolis was already facing the administration's immigration crackdown.

To break it all down, I'm joined by Jeff Meitrodt of The Minnesota Star Tribune, who's been covering this story.

Jeff Meitrodt, thanks very much. Welcome to the "News Hour."

Federal prosecutors said earlier this month they're investigating some $9 billion worth of fraud in more than a dozen Medicaid-funded programs in Minnesota. That is much broader, much larger than anything they have announced previously. So explain, what's new here?

Jeff Meitrodt, Investigative Reporter, The Minnesota Star Tribune:

What's new here is that a fraud problem that started with a COVID era really relief program to help kids get meals when the schools were all shut down has just spiraled into this sort of giant monster that just keeps spreading from one program to another.

It seems like there's a playbook that's been passed around out there, and dozens, if not hundreds, of criminals are figuring out how to rip out the state for -- it's certainly hundreds of millions of dollars. And I think, at the $9 billion, my God, that's a huge lift.

I guess it's possible, but there's been a little bit of skepticism about that number too.

Nick Schifrin:

In the video, Nick Shirley visits several day cares. Some appear closed and some turn him away when he asks to see children. And he seems to take this as proof that the centers are fraudulent. What is he claiming and how does it square with your reporting?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Well, it's not investigative reporting by any stretch of the imagination.

I can't imagine these day care facilities letting a stranger in the door. That seems like a violation of all kinds of rules, state and federal, but it does make good theater. And it does raise actually questions about the legitimacy of some of these sites.

Some of these do not look like your standard day cares, blacked-out windows, sites that are not that family-friendly. And so it looks damning. And it may very well be that some of these sites are not taking care of children. It looks like a couple of them actually have been closed for some period of time.

So did he cherry-pick a list for sort of maximum impact visually that ultimately is going to turn out to be nothing? We don't know yet. The state hasn't shared any of their results from what they saw on the streets this week when they went and they visited those day care centers.

Nick Schifrin:

Have any of the sites themselves responded?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Yes, we have heard from several of them. We visited some of them today and yesterday. They're pushing back and saying, it's business as usual here, we're still open.

My colleague was in one today that had 50 kids present, which certainly is not the narrative that we saw in the video. And it did not look like a staged situation, like they just suddenly put in a bunch of cots for kids.

But that said, we have visited all of them. And at least one of them had quite a history of problems, including a failure to report what looks like either the death of a child or some other kind of very serious incident. So these look like some facilities that may have some issues. Whether they're committing fraud, that's a different question.

Nick Schifrin:

As you know, Republicans have put the blame on Minnesota's Democratic governor, Tim Walz.

And here's what his office told us in part -- quote -- "Fraud is unacceptable and it is appropriate that the federal government is investigating problems in federal programs. The governor has been combating this for years, and before the viral video, the state had already referred these cases to law enforcement."

What has the state and federal response been even before the latest allegations?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Very robust at the federal level, somewhat tepid at the state level.

And so I think there's legitimate questions that have been raised about whether the state did what it needed to do at the beginning to shut this thing down. Now, there certainly has been a lot of action at the state level recently to try to crack down, create new guardrails, to create new processes that would catch fraud and prevent these kind of things from happening again.

But a lot of critics are saying this is a little bit too little too late.

Nick Schifrin:

And, finally, the Somali community in Minneapolis has been demonized by the president of the United States, who has called them -- quote -- "garbage." He said: "We don't want them in our country."

And here's what Ahmed Samatar told our Fred de Sam Lazaro these new allegations. He's a Somali professor at Macalester College in St. Paul. He's lived in Minnesota for over 30 years.

Ahmed Samatar, Macalester College:

The consequences could be frightening for many Somalis, especially young people who would think that they were born here, they're living the life of a normal citizen, going to school and getting along with life, and, therefore, should now have to watch their back all the time because they are targeted as an unwanted foreign group of people.

That's the danger.

Nick Schifrin:

How is this renewed attention affecting the Somali community?

Jeff Meitrodt:

Absolutely.

They have been under siege now for weeks with this crackdown by ICE. And I think the recent video, I mean, based on the hate mail that I'm getting for the stories that we have done that have raised some questions about both things that the state have done, statements that the feds have made, I can't imagine what it's like to be a Somali person in our community right now.

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the United States. Over 100,000 folks are living here. They're police officers. They're teachers. A handful of them are criminals. But it's paining the entire community with a very broad brush.

Nick Schifrin:

Jeff Meitrodt is with The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Thank you very much.

Jeff Meitrodt:

Thank you.