What to know about the Trump administration freezing federal funds for child care

The Trump administration said it will freeze child care funds in all states until it provides more verification and administrative data about the programs in a move fueled by a series of fraud schemes at Minnesota day care centers run by Somali residents.

All 50 states will be affected by the review, but the Republican administration is focusing most of its anger on the blue state of Minnesota. Minnesota’s Democratic Attorney General, Keith Ellison, said in a statement Wednesday that he is “exploring all of our legal options to ensure that critical child care services are not abruptly reduced based on pretext and show.”

Minnesota will face additional hurdles to restarting child care funding through the need to provide more verification to child care centers in the state suspected of fraud. The administration is also calling for an audit of some child care centers in Minnesota after a series of fraud schemes involving government programs in the state in recent years.

It is unclear to what extent countries’ verification process will be more robust than it was before the new measures were implemented.

Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill called it a response to “blatant fraud that appears to be widespread in Minnesota and across the country” in a social media post announcing the change on Tuesday. Officials are also asking all states to provide additional verification for child care funds.

Here are some things to know about these moves:

More verification is needed for all states to receive child care funds

All 50 states will have to submit additional levels of verification and administrative data before they receive more funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, before Minnesota can receive child care funds again, it will have to provide further verification to child care centers in that state suspected of committing fraud, such as attendance and licensing records, previous enforcement actions and inspection reports.

In his post Tuesday, O’Neill said all Department of Children and Families payments across the country will require “justification and a receipt or photo proof” before the money can be sent, but a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said Wednesday that the additional verifications apply only to CCDF payments.

Walz says Trump is politicizing the issue

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in a social media post that scammers are a serious issue that the state has spent years cracking down on, but that the move is part of Trump’s “long game.”

“He is politicizing the issue to stop funding programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz said.

State Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy condemned the move in a statement on Wednesday.

“Republicans are playing sick games and winning destructive prizes,” Murphy said. “And now, tens of thousands of Minnesota families will pay the price when Donald Trump’s surrogates strip critical funding. Our daycare system is already overwhelmed; this reckless decision could lead to a collapse that affects us all.”

Fraud investigations can extend to other programs

The department launched efforts in recent weeks to track fraud in other programs in Minnesota and is looking into fraud in other states. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt said in an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday that the administration is considering conducting similar investigations into fraud 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 illegal immigrants, Leavitt said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security is considering plans to strip citizens of their citizenship.

The Department of Labor is also investigating the state’s unemployment insurance program, Leavitt said. The administration this month threatened to withhold SNAP funding for food assistance from Democratic-controlled states, including Minnesota, unless they provide information about people receiving assistance. Agriculture Secretary Brock Rollins in December sent a letter to Minnesota threatening to exclude it from SNAP and cut funding unless it re-verifies eligibility and interviews them in person within 30 days, according to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota’s attorney general, who has been criticized by Leavitt.

Attention focused on Minnesota

The announcement came a day after US Department of Homeland Security officials launched a fraud investigation in Minneapolis, questioning workers at unidentified companies. Trump has criticized the Walz administration on these issues, using it to target the Somali diaspora in the state, which has the largest Somali population in the United States.

Read more: 5 things to know about the Somali community in Minnesota after Trump’s attacks

In his post on Tuesday, O’Neill, who is acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed to a right-wing influencer who posted a video last week claiming to have found that daycare centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud.

Meanwhile, there are concerns about the harassment that home daycare providers and members of the Somali community across the country may face amid harsh criticism, including Trump’s comments earlier this month, referring to Somali immigrants as “trash.” Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown issued a statement about in-home daycare providers being harassed and accused of fraud, saying: “Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening them, or harassing them is not an investigation. Neither is photographing minors who may be in the home.”