Nick Shirley Somali daycare fraud MN
Executive summary
Nick Shirley, a 23‑year‑old YouTuber who styles himself an independent journalist, posted a viral video in late December 2025 alleging that Somali‑run daycare centers in Minnesota had been paid millions in taxpayer funds while providing no child care, a claim that helped trigger federal and state actions and a national political firestorm [1] [2]. Reporting since then shows a mix of ongoing official probes, strong amplification by conservative figures, and persistent gaps in independently verified evidence about the specific centers and the scale of the alleged fraud [3] [4] [5].
1. What Shirley alleged and how he presented it
Shirley’s roughly 40–43 minute video accuses multiple Minnesota daycare centers—described in the piece as run by Somali Americans—of billing the Child Care Assistance Program while appearing empty when he visited, and he frames the story as part of a broader, multibillion‑dollar fraud problem in the state [2] [6]. The video relies on door‑to‑door footage, confrontational interviews, and data printouts to connect facilities to large sums of public payments, but critics note the presentation advances a predetermined conclusion rather than a neutral inquiry [7] [8].
2. Immediate impact: amplification and federal/state responses
The video was rapidly amplified by prominent conservative figures and platforms and prompted high‑level attention: FBI Director Kash Patel and federal agencies publicly linked ongoing investigations to the coverage, and the Department of Health and Human Services announced freezes and tighter oversight of child‑care payments to Minnesota pending reviews [9] [3] [4]. State inspectors from Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families said they conducted on‑site compliance checks at centers named in Shirley’s video after it circulated [2] [10].
3. What independent reporting and fact‑checks have found so far
Multiple outlets and fact‑checkers caution that Shirley’s central assertions remain unproven: Snopes and other local reporting teams could not independently verify that the nine centers he spotlighted had definitively committed CCAP fraud or that the owners were Somali as claimed [2] [5]. Local news and national outlets reported existing, separate investigations into childcare and pandemic‑era aid fraud in Minnesota, but stressed that Shirley’s footage does not by itself establish criminal conduct for the specific centers he visited [9] [5].
4. Official investigations and preexisting fraud probes
Federal and state investigators had been probing a range of pandemic‑era and child‑care funding irregularities in Minnesota before Shirley’s video; some large cases have already resulted in convictions related to nonprofit fraud, and federal prosecutors have described billions under review across programs [9] [3]. Authorities say the Shirley video accelerated scrutiny and led to focused compliance checks, but officials also warned that site visits and investigations are necessary to determine violations—inspections that, in at least some cases, found centers operating normally [10] [11].
5. Critics, community impact, and potential agendas
Critics argue the video traffics in xenophobic tropes and amplified an anti‑immigrant narrative about Somali communities, noting Shirley’s past targeting of immigrant populations and the political utility of a scandal that feeds national rhetoric on fraud and immigration [12] [7]. Community leaders and some officials reported harassment and trespassing at childcare sites after the video went viral, and civil‑rights advocates warned the publicity could be used to justify broader immigration enforcement actions under the guise of fraud probes [6] [12].
6. Evidence gaps and remaining questions
Key factual gaps remain: independent verification that the specific centers Shirley filmed committed fraud, identification of owners as Somali in every instance, and clear accounting of the total sums misappropriated as a result of those particular sites are not established in public reporting cited here [2] [11]. Reporting shows ongoing investigations and a complex fraud landscape in Minnesota, but it does not confirm the full scope of Shirley’s claims linking dozens of centers and tens or hundreds of millions to deliberate schemes [5] [9].
7. Bottom line
Shirley’s video successfully pushed allegations of daycare fraud into national headlines and triggered formal probes and federal caution on childcare funding, yet available independent reporting and official statements make clear that the most explosive claims in the video remain unverified and contested; the story today is as much about political amplification and community consequences as it is about proven fraud [4] [9] [5].