(The Center Square) – The debate over allegations of Somalian child care center fraud in Washington state has intensified, drawing responses and counter responses from state and federal officials over the veracity of the claims and the proper response.
Recent reports indicate that federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have launched a massive investigation into fraud within Minnesota’s social services and child care programs. Prosecutorial estimates of potential fraud across multiple state-run, Medicaid-funded programs have been cited at up to $9.5 billion. The start of the federal investigation occurred within days of a video posted on X on Dec. 26, purporting to show childcare centers that didn’t exist receiving taxpayer subsidies.
The Center Square has also reported on and participated in visits to licensed childcare centers in Washington state in which no children were found there, while others posting on X have visited child care centers across Washington, questioning whether they are legitimate businesses.
Licensed childcare providers can receive taxpayer subsidies through grants from state Department of Children, Youth & Families, which are sent to the provider after services are provided. According to DCYF, providers who list Somali as their primary language or in their “languages spoken” account for approximately 5,500 slots, or about 2.6% of statewide total.
The allegations of fraud have prompted several state leaders to weigh in, including Gov. Bob Ferguson. In an X post, he wrote that “I met with Somali American community leaders today to discuss the deep damage inflicted by Donald Trump’s harmful rhetoric and reckless deportations. Here in Washington state, we recognize that diversity is a strength.”
State Attorney General Nick Brown released a statement on Tuesday saying his office had been contacted by childcare providers “being harassed and accused of fraud with little to no fact-checking. Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening, or harassing them isn’t an investigation. Neither is filming minors who may be in the home. This is unsafe and potentially dangerous behavior.”
“We are in touch with the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families regarding the claims being pushed online and the harassment reported by daycare providers,” he also stated.
While childcare center addresses are available online, DCYF has told The Center Square that family home-based childcare centers do not have to provide their address to anyone but their agency.
“We appreciate our licensed child care providers and the important work they do to care for and educate our youngest learners,” DCYF said in a Dec. 31 statement. “We take fraud seriously. Washington state utilizes a variety of measures to minimize fraud. For example, DCYF conducts unannounced site visits at every licensed childcare provider at least once per year.”
Senate Bill 5926 prefiled by Sen. Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island, would expand public records exemption for personal information of family home child care providers to all licensed or certified child care providers in an effort to protect against “safety risks, harassment, doxxing, and targeted retaliation.”
That information would include:
NamesHome addresses, GPS coordinatesPersonal phone numbers and email addressesDates of birthSocial security or taxpayer ID numbersDriver’s license numbersBank account/direct deposit infoEmergency contactsPhotographs (unless publicly distributed by the provider)Other personally identifying information
However, the bill does not exempt business addresses, program capacity, licensing status, inspection results, or public safety findings.
Brown’s press release statement drew criticism over allegations of targeting the media, including U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. Responding to Brown’s statement, Dhillon wrote that “ANY state official who chills or threatens to chill a journalist’s 1A rights will have some ‘splainin to do,” noting that the AGO’s Civil Rights Division “takes potential violations of 18 USC § 242 seriously! Govern yourselves accordingly!”
In a phone interview with The Center Square, WA AGO Deputy Communications Director Mike Faulk defended Brown’s statement, arguing that there “nothing was threatening or targeting journalists at all” in his remarks.
“I think she [Dhillon] knows that,” Faulk said. “[She] works for somebody who has the longest track record possible of having no respect for journalists. There’s no truth to the claim, and it’s pretty ironic to see someone like that proclaiming a newly found concern for journalistic rights.”
When asked about SB 5926, Faulk said the AGO had not read the bill and as a result has not taken a position either way.
In his statement, Brown encourages individuals “experiencing threats or harassment to either contact local law enforcement or our office’s Hate Crimes & Bias Incident Hotline at 1-855-225-1010.”
While the bias incident hotline is for both criminal and First Amendment-protected activity, Faulk said whether a person calls 9-11 or the hotline is “really at the discretion of the person experiencing the incident,” noting that the hotline “also connects people to resources, including law enforcement.”
Reacting to one instance of a Somalian child care center receiving $68,000 in November for despite providing services to just seven kids, Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, posted on X that “the evidence of ‘childcare center’ fraud here in WA continues to grow. These reports are taken from public documents. This is what WA Democrats want to hide from the public. How long until State AG Brown calls posting this information “harassment”?”
When the Center Square reached out to Walsh for comment on Brown’s statement, he sent a link to a statement of his own in which he noted that, while Brown said he would look into the fraud allegations, he “did not make any offer to assist or cooperate with the FBI’s investigation.”
Regarding SB 5926, he wrote that “to many Washingtonians, Wellman’s bill looks like a cover-up of exactly the sort of fraud that’s been going on in Minnesota.”
The Center Square reached out to Wellman for a phone interview to discuss her bill, but her Communication Specialist Miles Sari was unable to get a hold of her. However, Sari wrote in an email that “as far as any connection to the issue in Minnesota, Sen. Wellman’s bill was prefiled Dec. 22 — four days prior to the video alleging child care fraud there.”
Sari also wrote that the bill was drafted in response to someone from the child care profession contacting Wellman about privacy and safety concerns: “Because their personal information is not protected in the same way, they could be subject to harassment, doxxing, intimidation, and other targeted retaliation. Sen. Wellman’s bill would align privacy laws for child care workers in all licensed child care settings.”
