Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) wants an explanation from Gov. Tim Walz after a video went viral of a YouTube journalist confronting employees of an alleged daycare center receiving millions in federal aid for up to 99 kids but showing no signs of activity during the middle of the work week.
YouTuber Nick Shirley visited the “Quality Learning Center” in South Minneapolis, reporting that the “learning” center hadn’t even spelled its name correctly on its sign, with “learning” misspelled as “learing.”
As the citizen reporter approached the facility, an unidentified woman yelled, “Don’t open up,” incorrectly claiming Shirley and the man with him were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“There’s no one here,” Shirley said on the video.
Rep. Emmer posted the Shirley’s video on X and responded.
“4 million dollars of hard earned tax dollars going to and an education center that can’t even spell learning correctly,” Emmer wrote. “Care to explain this one, @tim_walz?”
Shirley followed up with a report on YouTube, alleging the center had received $1.9 million in 2025, with the $4 million figure apparently accounting for the past two years.
Another report revealed the center had received nearly $8 million in federal taxpayer money since 2019.
The confrontation video went viral this week in the wake of a scandal surrounding the Walz administration for money lost to alleged social services fraud largely tied to the Somali community in the Twin Cities.
As Breitbart News reported, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson announced last week that half of the $18 billion in federal welfare funds have been lost due to fraud.
The amount exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country of Somali itself, according to the Government Accountability Institute.
The Quality Learning Center has not been without its problems in the past. It also made news this year for collecting 95 violations from the state human services agency between 2019 and 2023, according to an investigation by 5KSTP, St. Paul’s ABC affiliate.
The violations range from “failure to keep hazardous items away from children” to “no records for 16 children,” the outlet reported.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
