The Trump administration has said it is freezing child care funding for all states until it provides more administrative and verification data about the programs, in a move fueled by a series of fraud schemes at day care centers in Minnesota run by Somali residents.
All 50 states will be affected by the overhaul, but the Republican administration is focusing most of its ire on the blue state of Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday that he is “exploring all of our legal options to ensure that critical child care services are not abruptly cut on pretext and pretext.”
Minnesota will face additional hurdles to restart child care funding because it must provide even more background checks for child care centers in the state that are suspected of fraud. The administration is also calling for an audit of Minnesota child care centers after a series of fraud schemes involving state government programs in recent years.
It is unclear how much more robust the vetting process will be for states than it was before the new measures were implemented.
Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Jim O’Neill called it a response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country” in a social media post announcing the change Tuesday. Officials are also asking all states to provide additional checks to get funding for child care.
Here are some things to know about these moves:
More checks are needed for all states to get child care funding
All 50 states will have to provide additional levels of verification and administrative data before receiving more funds from the Child Care and Development Fund, according to a spokesman for the US Department of Health and Human Services. However, before Minnesota can receive child care funds again, it will have to provide even more checks for child care centers in that state that are suspected of fraud, such as attendance and licensing records, previous enforcement actions and inspection reports.
In his post Tuesday, O’Neill said all payments from the Administration for Children and Families nationwide will require “justification and a receipt or photo proof” before the money is sent, but the HHS spokesman said Wednesday that the additional checks only apply to CCDF payments.
Walz says Trump is politicizing the issue
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate, said in a social media post that fraudsters are a serious problem that the state has spent years cracking down on, but that the move is part of Trump’s “long game.”
“He’s politicizing the issue to define programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz said.
State Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy condemned the move in a statement Wednesday.
“Republicans are playing sick games and winning devastating prizes,” Murphy said. “And now, tens of thousands of Minnesota families will pay the price as Donald Trump’s agents cut critical funding. Our day care system is already under stress; this reckless decision could force a collapse that affects us all.”
Fraud investigations could expand to other programs, states
The administration has launched efforts in recent weeks to pursue fraud in other programs in Minnesota and is looking at fraud in other states. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday in an interview with “Fox & Friends” that the administration is considering similar fraud investigations in other blue states such as California and New York.
The administration will continue to send officers to investigate “potential fraud sites” in Minnesota and deport undocumented immigrants, Leavitt said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security is considering plans to denaturalize citizens.
The Labor Department is also investigating the state’s unemployment insurance program, Leavitt said. The administration threatened this month to pull SNAP food aid funding from Democratic-controlled states, including Minnesota, if they don’t provide information about people receiving assistance. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent Minnesota a letter in December threatening to disqualify it from SNAP and cut funding if it didn’t recertify the eligibility of more than 100,000 households and personally interview them within 30 days, according to a lawsuit filed by the Minnesota attorney general, which Leavitt criticized.
Attention focused on Minnesota
The announcement came a day after U.S. Homeland Security officials conducted a fraud investigation in Minneapolis, questioning workers at unidentified businesses. Trump criticized the Walz administration for the cases, using them to target the Somali diaspora in the state, which has the largest Somali population in the US.
In his post Tuesday, O’Neill, who is acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referenced a right-wing influencer who posted a video last week claiming to have discovered that day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud.
Meanwhile, there are concerns about harassment that home day care providers and members of the Somali community across the country could face amid the vitriol, including Trump’s comments earlier this month referring to Somali immigrants as “trash.” Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown released a statement about the harassment and fraud charges against home daycare providers, saying, “Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening or harassing them is not an investigation. Neither is filming minors who may be in the home.”