In brief
Recent viral accusations against Somali-run child care centers in the U.S. have led to harassment and intimidation of providers amidst a backdrop of fears related to immigration enforcement. Care providers report feelings of insecurity and have had to adapt their operations to ensure the safety of the children in their care. Local officials and child care advocates condemn these actions as politically motivated distractions from pressing child care issues.
It all began after a viral video alleging fraud in Somali-run child care centers in Minneapolis: strangers peering through windows, right-wing journalists showing up outside homes, influencers hurling false accusations.
In San Diego, child care provider Samsam Khalif was shuttling kids to her home-based center when she was spooked by two men with a camera waiting in a car parked outside, prompting her to circle the block several times before unloading the children.
“I’m scared. I don’t know what their intention is,” said Khalif, who decided to install additional security cameras outside her home.
Somali-run child care centers across the United States have become targets since the video caught the attention of the White House amid the administration’s immigration crackdown. Child care providers worry about how they can maintain the safe learning environments they have worked to create for impressionable young children who may be spending their first days away from their parents.
In the Minneapolis area, child care providers, many of them immigrants, say they’re being antagonized, exacerbating the stress they face from immigration enforcement activity that has engulfed the city.
One child care provider saw someone emerge from a car that had been circling the building and defecate near the center’s entrance. The same day, a motorist driving by yelled that the center was a “fake day care.” New lockdown procedures have been created, security budgets expanded, and precautions taken to shield children from unwanted visitors.
How the focus on Somali child care centers started
On the day after Christmas, right-wing influencer Nick Shirley posted a lengthy video alleging that members of Minneapolis’s large Somali community were running fake child care centers to collect federal subsidies. Although the U.S. has seen some fraud cases related to child care subsidies, the Minneapolis video’s central claims— that business owners were billing the government for children they were not caring for— were disproven by inspectors.
Despite this, the Trump administration attempted to freeze child care funding for Minnesota and five other Democratic-led states until a court ordered the funding be released.
Child care advocates argue that these fraud allegations detract from significant issues such as lengthy waiting lists for subsidy programs and threats to funding that many states face.
As the allegations continue to mobilize harassment against Somali child care providers, community and city officials are stepping up to denounce the intimidation tactics that threaten the safety and security of these vital services for children.
