Federal agents again swarmed sections of Minneapolis Tuesday morning. Officials with the U.S. Justice Department say the agents were exercising search warrants at several childcare centers for suspected fraud.
There were no arrests, but it is an indication there is a refocused effort to investigate billion-dollar COVID-era fraud schemes in Minnesota. Reports say the raids happened in at least 22 locations across the Twin Cities.
"Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation," read a statement from the DOJ.
There's no word on the location of the raids, and reports are that these raids are not related to "Operation Metro Surge," the federal government's crackdown on illegal immigrants in Minnesota.
Minnesota U.S. Rep. and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer released a statement saying raids happened at more than "20 locations" in Minneapolis.
"President Trump and his administration have made it crystal clear - our country will not tolerate waste, fraud, and abuse, and we are not going to allow people to take advantage of Americans' generosity. Thank you to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security for taking action against Somali fraudsters. Minnesotans and U.S. taxpayers across the nation are grateful."
"The task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding," added Vice President JD Vance.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also responding to the raids, called it a joint investigation between state and federal law enforcement.
"If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today," Walz wrote on social media. "We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it. Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it. That’s how the system is supposed to work, and our agencies will keep at it as long as there are fraudsters around to put behind bars. Now let’s work on a joint investigation into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — instead of cherry picking when we seek justice and when we turn a blind eye."
CBS News is reporting that nobody was arrested in the raids. At least some of the childcare centers targeted Tuesday appear to have been mentioned in a viral social media video posted in December by Nick Shirley in a YouTube video. Shirley randomly showed up at several Somali-owned daycares and health clinics.
The video included allegations that these centers receive public funds and are not actually providing any service. That prompted the FBI and DHS to ramp up investigations at 30 locations in Minneapolis, even posting some video of interactions at these centers.
Despite the viral nature of the video, and the reaction from the Trump administration, there was word on if any action was taken by the state of federal law enforcement after the video, and there had been no legal action regarding any of these day care centers stemming from those allegations, at least until now.
Since 2021, 92 people have been charged in the schemes, with 67 convicted. That includes five people who pleaded guilty last month for their roles in the Feeding Our Future scandal that exploited a federal nutrition program.
In February, Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds. Minnesota sued in response, warning it may have to cut health care for low-income families if the money was held back.
Gov. Tim Walz told Congress in March that he wanted to work with the federal government to help with fraud investigations, but the immigration surge was making that more difficult.
“The people of Minnesota have been singled out and targeted for political retribution at an unparalleled scale,” Walz said at the time.
