Tim Walz Takes Credit For FBI Raids On Minnesota Daycares

Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), who accused the Trump administration of exploiting his state’s fraud issue for political purposes, is now taking credit for law enforcement raids on more than 20 businesses in the Minneapolis area related to the federal government’s anti-fraud crackdown.

Walz addressed the raids in a social media post on Tuesday, claiming that his administration is putting fraudsters “behind bars.” The governor added that the court-approved search warrants were executed early Tuesday morning as part of a joint federal-state operation.

“If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today. We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it,” Walz wrote. “Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it.”

FBI Director Kash Patel responded to Walz on X and said that federal officials obtained and executed all of the search warrants on Tuesday.

“Come again? This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today,” Patel said. “But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship.”

At least 22 businesses were targeted in the raids. Many of the businesses being investigated by the feds are linked to Minnesota’s large Somali population. One of the locations raided by the feds on Tuesday morning was the now infamous Quality “Learing” Center, whose misspelled sign became the center of Minnesota’s fraud controversy in late December.

On Tuesday morning, federal agents were seen taking photos and moving a portable file case inside one daycare in South Minneapolis, CBS News reported.

Walz, who has been accused of lying about the scale of fraud in his state, admitted in a testimony before Congress earlier this year that state government programs have faced fraud problems. Walz, however, argued that his administration has been properly investigating and prosecuting fraud. In late December, Walz raged against President Donald Trump after the president moved to freeze federal child care payments to Minnesota over ongoing fraud issues.

“We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue — but this has been [Trump’s] plan all along,” Walz said. “He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.”

Walz also refused to cooperate with federal agents during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, which focused on deportations of illegal immigrants, but also included federal agents looking into suspected fraud. The operation was launched shortly after independent journalist Nick Shirley brought attention back onto Minnesota and Governor Walz with his reporting on Somali-owned daycares in December.

Fraud in state-run programs exploded under Walz’s watch going back to 2018. Since then, dozens of Somalis have been arrested and charged with defrauding numerous Minnesota social programs, including the federally funded Feeding Our Future nonprofit, which engaged in a massive fraud scheme during the COVID pandemic. The scandal also derailed Walz’s hopes for a third term as governor as he announced in January that he was ending his re-election bid because of the growing fraud issues in his state.

After taking credit for the raids on suspected fraudsters on Tuesday, Walz called on the federal government to investigate the killings of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot to death by federal immigration agents in January.

“Now let’s work on a joint investigation into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — instead of cherry picking when we seek justice and when we turn a blind eye,” he wrote.