On Dec. 31, 2025, the Trump administration announced a $10 billion freeze on child care subsidies for five Democratic states until they provide additional verification and administrative documentation. New York Senator Gillibrand responded to the administration’s action, stating, “Trump must unfreeze our child care funding and stop attacking New York children.” California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to the fraud on X claiming that “Donald Trump is a deranged, habitual liar whose relationship with reality ended years ago.”
This decision builds on the $185 million pause already imposed on Minnesota daycare centers. The action followed a viral video posted by right-wing influencer Nick Shirley, accusing Somali-run Minnesota Daycares of fraud. The video was posted on Dec. 26, 2025, in which Shirley accused multiple Somali-owned daycares of not providing child care services despite them receiving federal funding.
Shirley claimed in his video that he uncovered over $110 million in fraud in Minnesota, which has yet to be verified. Vice President JD Vance commended Shirley’s action, saying in a post on X, “This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes.”
The owner of one of the daycares Shirley visited stated, “Shirley came to the facility outside of its regular hours,” while another daycare actively had children being dropped off as CNN conducted an interview with Shirley. This is not the first time Minnesota has been accused of significant fraud. In mid-December, Assistant U.S Attorney Joe Thompson claimed that $9 billion in federal funds had been stolen.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel also claimed in a statement on X, “Even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had sent personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs. Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide.”
The daycares shown in Shirley’s video are currently still under investigation, Tikki Brown, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), said in a press conference, “While we have questions about some of the methods used in the video, we do take the concerns about fraud very seriously. Each of the facilities mentioned in the video has been visited at least once in the past six months as a part of our typical licensing process.”
The Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus released a public letter to DCYF and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The letter had four main points that the Republican Caucus urge: launch an investigation into the accusations made by Shirley, identify patterns of fraud or non-compliance, provide accounting dating back to 2021 for site visits to childcare centers and in-home providers and provide a public response by Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, detailing steps taken to address the issues, as well as preliminary findings from the investigation. DCYF and MDH did not publicly respond to the letter.
