U.S. federal agents raid Minnesota child-care centres in fraud probe: Reports
· Toronto Sun
U.S. federal agents served multiple search warrants Tuesday in Minnesota in an ongoing fraud investigation by the Trump administration of publicly funded social programs, authorities said.
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Twenty-two federal search warrants were executed at day care and autism centres in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, according to local news outlet KSTP-TV .
Though few details have been released, KSTP-TV said at least 15 child-care centres were raided as part of the operation, which began early Tuesday.
Many of them had ties to the Somali immigrant community, according to a Washington Post report.
“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” the Department of Justice said in a statement obtained by the Post .
Box of files removed from day care during raid
One of the day cares raided was identified as Metro Learning Center, which federal agents entered after using a battering ram, according to a KSTP-TV reporter.
The owner of a building told the Washington Post that the agents spoke to the day care’s owner and left with a box of files.
Mahamed Cali told the Post that about 40 businesses had operated out of the building, and that most of them had closed for the day following the raids.
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Raid linked to Medicaid fraud investigation
“If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said in a statement posted on X . “We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it.”
The raids targeted Medicaid providers and were not linked to federal immigration enforcement operations, sources told local TV station KARE 11 .
In February, the federal government announced it was deferring $259 million in federal Medicaid funding to Minnesota amid a fraud investigation over certain state social service programs.