When manager Nasrulah Mohamed got to Nokomis Day Care Center at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, he saw destruction.
Mohamed says security footage shows that between 3 and 6 a.m. Tuesday, someone broke through a brick wall in the back of the center. Nokomis Center administrators say the suspects crawled through the hole they made and broke open office doors. Mohamed said documents including enrollment records, employee information and financial documents were gone. The Minneapolis Police Department confirmed to MPR News they responded to reports of a break-in at the address.
“This is devastating news, and we don’t know why this is targeting our Somali community as one video made by a specific individual made this all happen,” Mohamed said.
Mohamed is referring to a video posted last Friday by right-wing content creator Nick Shirley. Shirley visited a number of day care facilities and other businesses in an attempt to expose fraud in Minnesota. The majority of the centers featured were Somali-owned. The video went viral, which resulted in calls for investigations by the state and an onslaught of racist rhetoric towards the Somali community. In addition to the break-in at Nokomis Center, other Somali child care providers say they have been receiving harassing phone calls.
“We’ve been receiving hateful messages through our voicemail threatening us since the past couple of days, including one that happened yesterday morning, after the break-in. This is frightening and exhausting,” Mohamed said at a news conference Wednesday.
Families who rely on the day care facilities were also on edge.
“My kids see what’s on the news, and they are reading and they are asking me, ‘What can we do now that they know our information and our home addresses?’” said parent Sacdiya Aden, translated by Amina Adin.
This is also impacting parents’ ability to work. Adin said her kids are too scared to go to child care, but she has to work and doesn’t know what to do.
Political pawns
Some providers told MPR News they feel like the Somali community is being used as political pawns. When Shirley filmed his video, many Somali providers were already on edge from ICE operations targeting their community and comments from President Trump referring to the community as “garbage.” So when Shirley showed up at the door of various daycare facilities, the providers were understandably hesitant to allow a stranger inside their doors.
“As we approached the door, we saw camera, three men, and we were like, ‘Okay, this is not going great,’ because we did not expect Shirley to show up. But we worry about ICE, and we did not open our door because we thought it was ICE the first time,” said Umi Hassan, an owner of ABC Learning Center, which was featured in the viral video.
While fraud is something Hassan believes should be stopped in the state, she thinks this method is more harmful than helpful.
“I think it was political motivation rather than finding frauds, because you cannot go to someone’s daycare, any daycare, and walk in with cameras and crew with masks, especially at this time where ICE is standing outside and targeting people who look like me.”
Minnesota Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth said this week that her caucus steered Shirley to child care sites in Minnesota. Fraud has been a big issue for Governor Tim Walz, who’s been accused of not doing enough to stop it. Earlier this month, federal prosecutors unveiled more charges in a widespread, ongoing investigation of “staggering, industrial-scale” Medicaid fraud in Minnesota that’s likely to reach into the billions of dollars.
Mary Solheim is a provider in Maplewood. She believes addressing fraud by targeting the Somali community is racist.
“Fraud does occur across race, across income and across geography,” Solheim said. “When a few child care centers that serve white children commit fraud, do we decide that every child care center that serves white children is committing fraud? No. The Somali child care community deserves that same respect.”
Funding freeze
Tuesday afternoon, the federal government announced a freeze for federal child care funding in Minnesota. The centers featured in the video have been part of a state-administered child care program using federal money. Although some recently had operations or payments suspended, none have been accused of fraud by federal prosecutors.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday his office is exploring legal options to fight the Trump administration’s freeze on funding.
Ellison called the Trump administration’s threat to cut off child care funding a “hasty, scorched earth attack.”
Ellison said his office has prosecuted hundreds of fraud cases over his tenure, and he wants to see anyone who commits fraud held accountable. But he said the administration’s response will hurt Minnesota families who depend on child care services to afford their lives.
Child care advocates are most worried about the Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP. It’s federally funded to support low-income families. At least 23,000 families and 4,000 providers utilize CCAP, but not all child care centers are registered for this funding. Centers do not directly get this money. Instead, families must apply and qualify for assistance and then choose the center they want it to go to, and that money leaves when the child leaves.
“I want people to know we’re a legit business,” said ABC Learning Center’s Umi Hassan. We’re doing whatever we can to meet the state expectation. We are responsible as citizens. And if they want to tour, if they want to see what I do, my doors are open for you.”
Child care providers rallied at the Capitol Wednesday in support of their Somali peers.
They also pushed back on the Trump administration’s move to freeze child care assistance funding until states can prove that funds are being used for legitimate reasons. Amanda Schillinger is a child care center director.
“We can’t afford to continue to operate if we lose 75 percent of our enrollment without child care assistance funding. Our center, center will close within a month.”
National attention on Minnesota child care centers is expected to continue as providers wait for clarity on how the freeze will impact families and providers across the state.
Community support
A private foundation in central Minnesota is providing money to support Somali American organizations facing harassment.
Some St. Cloud-area nonprofits that serve the Somali community have reported intimidation and threats amid intense public scrutiny over fraud in state government programs. Some of the defendants in those cases are of Somali descent.
The Initiative Foundation based in Little Falls says it awarded four rapid response grants totaling $30,000 to nonprofits that are led by and serve the Somali community.
“I think what we have heard broadly across different sources is folks interrupting business at nonprofits and for-profit businesses, stories of Somali community members not feeling safe … and not wanting to engage in public life and go to work and go to activities,” said Brian Voerding, president of the Initiative Foundation.
Voerding said the money will help the organizations strengthen safety and security measures, and continue providing services without interruption.
“That’s everything from access to food and to services and to support and workforce opportunities and transportation and healthcare, and the things folks really need,” he said. “We know that folks’ ability to access some of those have been interrupted because they do not feel safe at the moment.”
The Initiative Foundation said it expects to give out more grants in 2026, increasing the total to more than $75,000.
Voerding said the foundation is responding to the community’s safety needs, not to federal policy or the fraud investigation.
MPR News reporters Dana Ferguson, Regina Medina, Peter Cox and Kirsti Mahron contributed to this report.
This story was originally published by MPR News you can read more at https://mprnews.org.