Minnesota’s Daycare Fraud Just One More Example of Democrats Not Getting it Done

There is indisputable, widespread fraud in Minnesota, stealing billions of American taxpayer dollars over the last several years. “Daycares” that never existed, no longer exist, or exaggerated their services — at best.

The only dispute is how widespread, and whether the fraud — theft of taxpayer dollars — is hundreds of millions or billions.

Here are the questions that Governor Tim Walz (Phew! Did we dodge a bullet,) Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey must answer:

Did they enable the fraud because most of the perpetrators were Somali owned or operated or allegedly meant primarily to serve their Somalian community—due to Democrat politicians’ fervor to prove to us that it’s a good idea to import people into our nation who don’t actually want to become Americans? 

Did their left wing ideology cause them to “look the other way?”

Is this just the latest outrageous government program becoming so large and encompassing in our lives, spending millions and billions of dollars so that no “good” Democrat actually bothers to audit if our tax dollars are being used legally, or investigate if any actual benefit comes from spending our taxes? Because their true objective is not any program in and of itself; it’s actually to grow government so big, touching so much of our lives and livelihoods that it’s too big to reign-in?

In other words, are Walz and company co-conspirators, or practicing reverse discrimination — i.e., are they tolerating massive fraud because they don’t want to offend the Somalians who have taken over large parts of greater Minneapolis, or are they advancing the grow-government’s-power ideology that has captured today’s Democratic Party.

That fraud of this scale could occur tells us so much about the mindset of too many Democratic politicians over the last five to ten years.

Yet in some ways, their reaction and the reactions of Democrat politicians across the nation, their left-wing front groups, and — tragically — too many allies in the legacy media paints a much more disturbing picture.

The response has been a tragic mix of downplaying the fraud, attempting to deny the fraud, alleging that Democrats actually “uncovered” the fraud years ago (then why is it still happening in 2025 and 2026??), screaming “racism,” and attacking Nick Shirley — the young man who exposed this fraud to the nation — calling him a racist, a “Nazi” (so played out…) or a litany of pejoratives — e.g., “YouTuber,” “rightwing media influencer” and “citizen-journalist.”

That left-wing, woke Democrats acted like cultish-ideologues isn’t that surprising. Tragically.

That legacy media — including the Minneapolis newspapers — are willing partners isn’t a surprise anymore.

Here’s what is surprising: after the elections of 2024 and the understandable, necessary course corrections that are ongoing across our society in corporations, parts of academia, and much of our day to day lives (thankfully) that Walz and company, national Democrats and legacy media still don’t get it!

Where’s their outrage on behalf of taxpayers? Their pledge to “get to the bottom of this!” Their commitment to “do better” going forward? To offer to work with Republicans? To open up the records to the media and the public (well, the records that weren’t suddenly “stolen” from daycares…ahem).

Why is their first instinct to turn everything into a partisan fight? And dig-in their heels?

From Covid mandates to DEI, from woke policies to antisemitism, from open borders to permitting shoplifting up to $999 in our cities — why is the Left incapable of apologizing? Why do they never extend the hand of bipartisanship?

Why do they almost never rush to defend taxpayers? To defend the victims of crime?

Better yet, here’s why one would think that Democrats should be even angrier than Republicans! More committed to figure out what happened and fix it. If their rhetoric is to be believed, anyway:

Government funded daycare programs are targeted to the poorest Americans, those trying to start over or climb up from poverty. How many deserving Americans in Minnesota — and other states — didn’t get daycare vouchers because millions or billions were being defrauded on fake daycares (often for not-yet citizens).

Daycare subsidy programs often are a tool to help single-moms find meaningful work. How many single moms were denied daycare vouchers because program money was defrauded for fake daycares with fake children — making Somali scammers rich?

Even worse, investigators have uncovered an even more chilling scam: Somali providers collaborated with parents to allege that their healthy children had autism — thus entitling them to additional government funding for supportive programs.

Actual children with autism and special needs whom Democrats allege to champion — and scream about when Republicans talk about reform or waste — How many of those deserving children got less money — or no money. Got less services. Less support. Or none?

Because millions — if not billions — of our essentially stolen tax dollars were abused to advance a political agenda. No one looked. No one audited. No one investigated.

Because all too often, the poor, the single moms, and those with special needs aren’t really who Democrats care about.

It’s about political power to advance an ideology; not about actual Americans.

Are we catching on yet?

Guy Ciarrocchi writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania.A Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.