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The third-ranking leader in the House of Representatives, who also happens to hail from Minnesota, demanded answers from Gov. Tim Walz after a YouTuber tried to confront employees of an alleged daycare center that had misspelled signage and no signs of activity outside but reportedly received $4 million in state funds.
The video went viral this week amid the burgeoning scandal enveloping the Walz administration that notably included at least $1 billion lost to alleged social services fraud largely tied to the Somali community in the Twin Cities. A portion reportedly ended up in the hands of the Somali terror group Al-Shabab.
Responding to the video, Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Twin Cities suburbs and St. Cloud, lashed out at the governor.
“4 million dollars of hard-earned tax dollars going to an education center that can’t even spell learning correctly. Care to explain this one, Tim Walz?” he wrote on X.
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Tim Walz, left, and Rep. Tom Emmer speak during a congressional event. (Bill Clark/CQ-Getty Images)
The Quality Learning Center also recently made news for collecting 95 violations from the state human services agency between 2019 and 2023, according to St. Paul’s ABC affiliate.
Such violations range from failure to keep hazardous items away from kids to the daycare not having any records for more than a dozen listed children, according to the outlet. Documentation reviewed by Fox News Digital showed the site’s current license does not expire until the end of 2026.
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This week, YouTuber Nick Shirley and another man approached a building labeled the Quality Learing Center (sic) on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, with Shirley noting that “Learning” was spelled incorrectly on the daycare’s sign outside.
Almost immediately, a woman appears and repeatedly yells — ostensibly to anyone inside the building — “Don’t open up. It’s ICE.”
Shirley asked the woman whether she thought he or the other man were immigration agents and identified himself as an online commentator.
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The man held up a paper that appeared to show $1.9 million had been disbursed to the center in fiscal year 2025, adding that the total disbursement to the center that he had recorded was $4 million.
“Go away. You’re not welcome here. Shame on you,” the woman told Shirley. It remained unclear whether the woman had any association with the center.
“Are you in favor of $1.9 million going illegally/fraudulently to this business that [is called] ‘Quality Learning Center’ but can’t spell ‘learning’ right on the door?”
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A document on the Minnesota Department of Human Services website showed the center is supposed to account for 99 children, a figure also mentioned in the video by Shirley.
“There’s no one here,” he said.
“This is a prime example of the billions of dollars in fraud happening right now in Minnesota. This is one of the hundreds of ‘daycares’ receiving millions of dollars from the government. This daycare (that can’t even spell learning right) received $1,900,000 in tax-exempt funding from CCAP in 2025. This is just one of the thousands of fraudulent businesses operating in Minnesota.”
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X commentator Greg Price shared the video, writing that if people try to “knock on the doors of Somali-owned daycares that have received millions of tax dollars from the Minnesota government, liberal white women will accuse you of being ICE.”
U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson has said that when investigations of the overall CCAP and Minnesota state programs are complete, the fraud could exceed $1 billion. The Treasury Department is also investigating, with Secretary Scott Bessent remaining vocal in public statements on the matter.
The most notable recipient was a supposed child nutrition effort called Feeding Our Future, while other recipients of CCAP (Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program) funding have drawn scrutiny in recent days.
Fox News Digital reached out to the number listed for the daycare in state government documents, but an automated message said the call could not be completed as dialed.
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Fox News Digital reached out for comment from Walz and the top prosecutor in Minnesota, Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Fox News Digital also reached out to U.S. DHS for any comment on critics of the Minnesota investigation appearing to attribute ICE employment as a proxy to people they believe could cause undue trouble in public.
