Minnesota: It All Goes Back To A Viral Video

A case study in the way misinformation becomes state action and why school leaders cannot stay silent.

Jan 27, 2026

In December, a conservative YouTuber accused Somali-run daycare centers in Minneapolis of fraud. That video triggered a chain of chaos: frozen child-care funding across multiple states, withheld funding nationwide, was used to justify one of the largest federal immigration enforcement surges in the Midwest’s history which led to the killing of multiple U.S. citizens by ICE agents, and reshaped Minnesota’s political future.

None of these events were officially connected, and I know this isn’t directly tied to education, but I cannot not talk about this.

In early December, the Department of Homeland Security launched “Operation Metro Surge. It was a major ICE enforcement initiative in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that deployed federal agents across the region targeting undocumented immigrants - particularly those from the Somali community.

On December 26, 2025, YouTuber Nick Shirley released a 43-minute video touring Minneapolis-area daycare centers with a failed politician, armed with intel fed to them by Lisa Demuth (R) who is running for governor of Minnesota.

They claimed (without much evidence) that there was widespread fraud occurring at the hands of Somali-American daycare operators. The video was weak. It identified few specific owners, offered no verifiable documentation, and presented no substantiated financial proof.

And, mind you, it was winter break for many of the centers. So obviously not many children were around.

If a daycare center allows a random YouTuber who looks like a frat bro and a weird old man in to “see the kids,” I’m not going to be sending my kids there anymore…

But this video’s message was very politically aligned with what the right wants to be true (cough, they’re racist, cough) so it was immediately amplified by J.D. Vance and Elon Musk and Trump. According to The Guardian, the video ignited a “torrent of anti-immigrant and anti-Somali content” online.

Calls to “audit,” “crack down,” and “punish” Somali-run centers followed from Minnesota Republicans (and some Minnesota Democrats as well, including former Senator Norm Coleman.)

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced what she called a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud” in Minnesota. FBI Director Kash Patel pledged to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes” in the state. Both explicitly cited Shirley’s video (which had claimed up to $100 million in fraud) as justification.

At the same time, federal immigration and homeland security agencies began increasing their physical presence in the Twin Cities. By January 6, 2026, DHS called this its “largest immigration enforcement operation ever,” deploying around 2,000 federal officers including ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and Border Patrol. They justified this, in part, by crying “fraud.”

However, Minnesota regulators conducted surprise site visits at the daycare centers highlighted in Nick Shirley’s video, and those visits largely contradicted the claims made by the YouTuber and his weird pal because they found children present at all but one location…the one where they didn’t find kids had not opened yet that day.

My favorite parody video about this is by Walter Masterson showing up to churches with a film crew and asking where the Sunday school kids are.

So… despite no evidence of mass fraud, federal enforcement was already in motion in Minnesota.

Backing up to December 30, 2025 - four days after the video’s release - HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill froze all federal child-care payments to Minnesota, demanding a “comprehensive audit” of the centers featured in the video by January 9. The audit requirements were detailed financial records for every provider and personal data on every subsidy recipient, including names and Social Security numbers.

Until Minnesota could prove that its funds were “spent legitimately,” the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) would remain blocked.

This has since been released, thank goodness, but this was not limited to the centers accused in the video. It ended up being applied nationwide - even though many states had no fraud accusations.

Many daycare centers operate on tight margins, so they had a really hard time trying to pay staff and keep doors open because federal subsidies are a cornerstone of their finances.

Many providers even began discussing leaving the system entirely because it was being weaponized. But if they did leave, it would effectively eliminate childcare access for low-income families. (I think this was kind of the hope of the Trump regime, to be honest with you.)

Crazily, Trump then froze MORE childcare funding in five blue states: Illinois, New York, California, and Colorado. This effectively choked off CCDF child-care grants, The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds, and Social Services Block Grants.

Obviously this was blocked by a judge - because what the hell?

But federal enforcement was still continuing to escalate in Minnesota.

On January 7, 2026, the day after the feds announced a massive increase in federal presence, 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was murdered by an ICE agent named Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis.

Just hours after her murder, federal agents descended on Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis as classes were ending. Witnesses reported that while students and teachers were exiting the building, unmarked vehicles pulled onto school grounds, agents tackled people, deployed chemical irritants, and refused to identify themselves.

Within hours, Minneapolis Public Schools canceled classes for the rest of the week. When schools reopened, it was done with additional security measures. Families were offered optional remote learning through mid-February because parents have been afraid to send their children to school.

ICE agents got wind that schools and community members were supporting people too afraid to leave home with food deliveries, so they distributed flyers, promising food support for families. School administrators urgently warned families not to respond.

Just when you think they can’t go any lower, they do.

The shooting of Renee Good immediately catalyzed large public protests. On January 13, hundreds of high school students walked out of schools across the Twin Cities. At Roseville High School alone, an estimated 500 students marched

The protests throughout Minnesota spurred more brutality from ICE.

A family reported that ICE agents released a tear gas canister underneath their family vehicle while their six children were inside. The kids were between 11 years old and 6-months-old.

Instead of helping them get out safely, the family says agents walked behind their SUV and deployed a tear gas canister underneath it. When the canister exploded, they said the car lifted off the ground, airbags deployed, doors locked, and the vehicle filled with gas.

So they had to physically pull their children out of the car and their 6-month-old baby was the last to be pulled out. His mother said he was unresponsive, foaming at the mouth, and not breathing so she performed CPR while still struggling to breathe herself.

Thank god, the baby survived! But all the kids are traumatized!

And then, after all of this Nick Shirley was called to testify before Congress under oath.

But it didn’t spur any meaningful changes.

On Saturday January 24, 2026, another U.S. citizen - Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse - was murdered by federal agents in south Minneapolis.

Minnesota’s political future has entirely shifted after these events.

After Pretti’s murder, Chris Madel, a Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, dropped of the race because ICE went far beyond its stated focus on eliminating public safety threats.

Previously, Governor Tim Walz said that he would not seek a third term because he wants to fully focus on the state’s current needs.

Multiple federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned, including six senior prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. These departures were allegedly tied to disagreements over how the DOJ was handling the Good case and its unwillingness to pursue an investigation into her death.

Several senior attorneys in the Civil Rights Division also quit for similar reasons.

Local law enforcement, the NRA, and tons of Republicans are asking for deeper investigation into Pretti’s murder.

Now, Gregory Bovino (the very tiny and evil Border Patrol official who became the face of Operation Metro Surge) has been removed from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large” and was reassigned back to El Centro, California, where sources say he’s expected to retire soon.

Bovino was the public face of ICE’s inhumanity. He was sent Chicago, New Orleans, and Minneapolis. He operated outside the normal chain of command, traveled with his own film crew, and turned immigration enforcement into a social media spectacle. He was wearing a Nazi coat - it was very overt.

Is Trump's DHS Glorifying Nazi-Era Imagery? ICE Commander Bovino's Look Sparks Debate | NewsX - YouTube

But all of this…the funding freezes, the raids, schools shut down, children traumatized, after two U.S. citizens were killed…it all started when Nick Shirley supercharged the narrative with his video.

I refuse to let propaganda be treated like fact. When misinformation is elevated by people in power, it shows up in actual communities, which is when schools and kids get pulled into harm’s way.

What happened in Minnesota will shape the future because we watched students respond in real time by demanding safety and accountability when the adults in power made them feel helpless.

When kids’ wellbeings are treated like collateral damage by politicians, anyone arguing “schools can stay neutral” is full of shit.

The only way schools can protect their students is by communicating that they are safe on campus. We have seen attendance absolutely tank by 30-50% because people are afraid to leave home!

Teachers cannot do everything. They are already walking their students to and from bus stops because ICE is staking out the bus stops, delivering food to families so they don’t have to leave home, and going back to the hell that was hybrid/virtual learning to keep kids learning.

School leadership has to step up too. Silence in the face of a fascist takeover does not protect students or their families. Just like how people have been blowing whistles at ICE, school leaders need to get loud.

ICE needs to know: they are not welcome near schools! And students need to see it! They are always paying attention.

If schools don’t stand up for their students, someone else will define the narrative for them. And we already know how dangerous that is.

Until next time,
Frazz

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Sources:

youtube.com/watch?v=5VRZ_DtOx58&

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/trump-administration-freezes-billions-in-child-care-and-child-welfare-funding/270017

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2000-federal-agents-sent-to-minneapolis-area-to-carry-out-largest-immigration-operation-ever-ice-says

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/live-updates/minneapolis-ice-agent-shooting-protesters-clash-fbi-investigation/

https://www.wtsp.com/video/news/nation-world/dhs-says-it-has-made-over-3000-arrests-in-the-twin-cities-since-operation-metro-surge-began/67-01a6e374-b9e3-4132-9510-7f18d3cb0c1d

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/10/nick-brooke-shirley-maga-influencer

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/noem-says-homeland-security-is-investigating-fraud-in-minneapolis