Childcare Providers Around the Country Are Being Targeted by Vigilante Surveillance
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Politics
/ February 5, 2026
Childcare Providers Around the Country Are Being Targeted by Vigilante Surveillance
In response to bogus allegations of fraud in Minnesota, strangers are filming them, knocking on their doors, demanding to be let in. It’s scaring parents and costing providers.
Bryce Covert
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Children read at ABC Learning Center Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, December 30, 2025. A viral video showed a YouTubers knocking on doors of Somali run daycares and claiming there were no children there, accusing the owners of defrauding the state. This daycare was featured in the video but did not allow the Youtuber in to the building.
(Renee Jones Schneider / The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
As a woman originally from Somalia who runs a childcare business out of her home in California, Safiyo Jama found herself the target of harassment late last year. Shortly after right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a now-viral video claiming to show, without any actual evidence, that daycares run by Somali Americans in Minnesota were fraudulently receiving federal funding, Jama started getting harassing phone calls and online messages. Shirley had shown up at daycares that he claimed were closed or didn’t have any children inside, although investigators have debunked those claims, and President Trump elevated his allegations, which led not only to his administration’s attempting to freeze federal funding to Minnesota and other states but launching the current ICE occupation of the state. Trump has called Somali immigrants “garbage.”
Jama’s daycare operates 2,000 miles away in San Diego, but it caught the eye of others who seem to have taken inspiration from Shirley. A man called Jama at the start of the year saying he wanted to enroll his son in her care, but when Jama responded truthfully that she didn’t have any open spots and would have to put him on a waiting list, he demanded to come immediately and “see some of the kids,” she said. She hung up, but he texted her saying he and his son were coming to her home, and when she responded again that she didn’t have capacity he sent her back an image of an eye and a photo of someone in handcuffs. It has been “stressful, harmful, and deeply discouraging,” she said. “No one should be harassed for trying to earn a hard, honest living.”
Then a middle-aged white man in camo pants and an LA Dodgers baseball cap showed up outside her home taking video of her and her neighbor, who is also a childcare provider. “We don’t know where he’s coming from, who’s sending him,” Jama recalled. In the video Jama took …
This affects the entire country.
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Childcare Providers Around the Country Are Being Targeted by Vigilante Surveillance
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Current Issue
Politics
/ February 5, 2026
Childcare Providers Around the Country Are Being Targeted by Vigilante Surveillance
In response to bogus allegations of fraud in Minnesota, strangers are filming them, knocking on their doors, demanding to be let in. It’s scaring parents and costing providers.
Bryce Covert
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
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Children read at ABC Learning Center Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, December 30, 2025. A viral video showed a YouTubers knocking on doors of Somali run daycares and claiming there were no children there, accusing the owners of defrauding the state. This daycare was featured in the video but did not allow the Youtuber in to the building.
(Renee Jones Schneider / The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
As a woman originally from Somalia who runs a childcare business out of her home in California, Safiyo Jama found herself the target of harassment late last year. Shortly after right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a now-viral video claiming to show, without any actual evidence, that daycares run by Somali Americans in Minnesota were fraudulently receiving federal funding, Jama started getting harassing phone calls and online messages. Shirley had shown up at daycares that he claimed were closed or didn’t have any children inside, although investigators have debunked those claims, and President Trump elevated his allegations, which led not only to his administration’s attempting to freeze federal funding to Minnesota and other states but launching the current ICE occupation of the state. Trump has called Somali immigrants “garbage.”
Jama’s daycare operates 2,000 miles away in San Diego, but it caught the eye of others who seem to have taken inspiration from Shirley. A man called Jama at the start of the year saying he wanted to enroll his son in her care, but when Jama responded truthfully that she didn’t have any open spots and would have to put him on a waiting list, he demanded to come immediately and “see some of the kids,” she said. She hung up, but he texted her saying he and his son were coming to her home, and when she responded again that she didn’t have capacity he sent her back an image of an eye and a photo of someone in handcuffs. It has been “stressful, harmful, and deeply discouraging,” she said. “No one should be harassed for trying to earn a hard, honest living.”
Then a middle-aged white man in camo pants and an LA Dodgers baseball cap showed up outside her home taking video of her and her neighbor, who is also a childcare provider. “We don’t know where he’s coming from, who’s sending him,” Jama recalled. In the video Jama took …
Childcare Providers Around the Country Are Being Targeted by Vigilante Surveillance
This affects the entire country.
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Childcare Providers Around the Country Are Being Targeted by Vigilante Surveillance
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Current Issue
Politics
/ February 5, 2026
Childcare Providers Around the Country Are Being Targeted by Vigilante Surveillance
In response to bogus allegations of fraud in Minnesota, strangers are filming them, knocking on their doors, demanding to be let in. It’s scaring parents and costing providers.
Bryce Covert
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Children read at ABC Learning Center Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, December 30, 2025. A viral video showed a YouTubers knocking on doors of Somali run daycares and claiming there were no children there, accusing the owners of defrauding the state. This daycare was featured in the video but did not allow the Youtuber in to the building.
(Renee Jones Schneider / The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
As a woman originally from Somalia who runs a childcare business out of her home in California, Safiyo Jama found herself the target of harassment late last year. Shortly after right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a now-viral video claiming to show, without any actual evidence, that daycares run by Somali Americans in Minnesota were fraudulently receiving federal funding, Jama started getting harassing phone calls and online messages. Shirley had shown up at daycares that he claimed were closed or didn’t have any children inside, although investigators have debunked those claims, and President Trump elevated his allegations, which led not only to his administration’s attempting to freeze federal funding to Minnesota and other states but launching the current ICE occupation of the state. Trump has called Somali immigrants “garbage.”
Jama’s daycare operates 2,000 miles away in San Diego, but it caught the eye of others who seem to have taken inspiration from Shirley. A man called Jama at the start of the year saying he wanted to enroll his son in her care, but when Jama responded truthfully that she didn’t have any open spots and would have to put him on a waiting list, he demanded to come immediately and “see some of the kids,” she said. She hung up, but he texted her saying he and his son were coming to her home, and when she responded again that she didn’t have capacity he sent her back an image of an eye and a photo of someone in handcuffs. It has been “stressful, harmful, and deeply discouraging,” she said. “No one should be harassed for trying to earn a hard, honest living.”
Then a middle-aged white man in camo pants and an LA Dodgers baseball cap showed up outside her home taking video of her and her neighbor, who is also a childcare provider. “We don’t know where he’s coming from, who’s sending him,” Jama recalled. In the video Jama took …
