Federal authorities have increased the number of law enforcement officers operating in Minnesota following new allegations of fraud tied to day care centers operated by members of the state’s Somali community, according to officials familiar with the investigations.
The expanded presence comes amid broader federal efforts to investigate alleged abuse of government assistance programs. President Donald Trump has previously linked heightened immigration enforcement activity in Minnesota to multiple fraud investigations involving federal aid programs. Several of those cases have involved defendants with Somali backgrounds, according to reports from ABC7.
This week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel announced that federal investigative operations in Minnesota would be expanded. Their announcement followed the release of a video by independent journalist Nick Shirley, who alleged that day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis may have collectively committed as much as $100 million in fraud.
Minnesota officials say the claims are being taken seriously. Tikki Brown, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, said during a news conference that state regulators had begun reviewing the allegations and were cooperating with federal authorities.
On social media, Noem stated that federal officers were “conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.” Patel said the objective of the investigation is to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
Minnesota has already been under increased scrutiny for several high-profile fraud cases in recent years. The most notable involves Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit at the center of a pandemic-era investigation involving roughly $300 million in alleged fraud. Federal prosecutors have described that case as the largest COVID-19–related fraud scheme uncovered in the United States. Authorities allege that participants exploited a state-administered program funded by the federal government that was intended to provide meals to children during the pandemic.
The investigation into Feeding Our Future began during the administration of former President Joe Biden. In 2022, federal prosecutors initially charged 47 individuals in connection with the case. As the investigation continued, the number of defendants grew to 78.
So far, 57 people have been convicted either through guilty pleas or trial verdicts. According to court records cited by ABC7, many of those charged are of Somali descent.
Officials say several related fraud investigations remain ongoing, including cases involving child care centers and other social service programs.
During interviews and public statements over the summer, federal prosecutor Joe Thompson suggested that the combined losses from multiple fraud schemes in Minnesota could exceed $1 billion. Earlier this month, another federal prosecutor claimed that a significant portion of the approximately $18 billion in federal funding distributed across 14 state programs since 2018 may have been improperly used.
Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the United States, concentrated primarily in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota, 85 of the 98 defendants charged in various fraud cases involving child nutrition, housing assistance, and autism service programs are Somali Americans.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced additional arrests on Monday and said more charges are expected as investigations continue.
Her statement came shortly after Shirley released several videos alleging widespread fraud in state-run programs. In a post on X, Bondi said the reporting helped highlight what she described as “the scale of fraud in Tim Walz’s Minnesota.”
Bondi said federal prosecutors have already charged 98 individuals in related cases and that more than 60 have been convicted. She indicated that further prosecutions are likely as authorities continue examining potential fraud across several assistance programs.
One example cited by the Department of Justice involves Asha Farhan Hassan, 28, who allegedly received nearly $500,000 as part of a $14 million autism services fraud scheme. According to a Justice Department release, Hassan formed Smart Therapy LLC in 2019 and registered the company as a provider under Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) autism services program.
Prosecutors allege that shortly after establishing the company, Hassan enrolled the business in both the autism services program and the federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future, allowing the scheme to expand across multiple government-funded programs.
