Emotions are running high at a child care center in Minneapolis that was vandalized in the wake of increased scrutiny from the federal government.
It happened during a time of escalating fraud allegations statewide. The alleged break-in at the Nokomis Daycare Center comes just days after a viral video alleged widespread fraud within the state's Somali-run childcare centers.
Facility owner Nasrullah Muhammad says the break-in happened sometime Tuesday morning between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m.
He claims an assailant broke through a cinderblock wall to gain access to the building.
"Unfortunately, we saw that there was important documentation, enrollment of the children, and also employee documentation that was gone," says Muhammad.
He says this incident highlights a volatile new reality for local Somali-American providers who he says are getting caught up in the fallout of an escalating political firestorm.
Mohamed says they also ripped checks from their checkbook.
"This is frightening and exhausting because this is happening to us, Somali communities as Somali-Americans. We are supposed to stand with each other and help each other through everything that's happening," he says.