Overview
- Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill halted federal child‑care payments to Minnesota after allegations raised in a viral video about subsidized centers providing little or no care.
- HHS activated its nationwide “Defend the Spend” controls for ACF payments, demanded a comprehensive state audit, and opened a public fraud tipline at childcare.gov.
- The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said they have surged investigators to Minnesota, with agents conducting on‑site visits tied to suspected subsidy abuse.
- DHS also announced reviews of immigration and citizenship files for fraud, noting that cases proven to involve fraudulent naturalization could lead to denaturalization.
- Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families and a CBS review say the featured centers had recent inspections with citations for safety and cleanliness but no recorded findings of fraud, as Governor Tim Walz criticized the freeze as political.