WASHINGTON STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL NICK BROWN released a statement on a social media platform Tuesday evening warning independent journalists to stop investigating alleged fraudulent Somali daycare centers or they could be charged with a hate crime.
“My office has received outreach from members of the Somali community after reports of home-based daycare providers being harassed and accused of fraud with little to no fact-checking,” State AG Nick Brown stated. “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. 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.”
Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil rights, issued a warning of her own in reaction to Brown’s post.
“ANY state official who chills or threatens to chill a journalist’s 1A rights will have some ‘splainin to do,’” she wrote on X. “[The DOJ Civil Rights Division] takes potential violations of 18 USC § 242 seriously!”
Dhillon referenced the Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law statute, which makes it a crime for any person acting under the pretense of law to willfully deprive another individual of rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.
The clash came after Youtuber Nick Shirley exposed about a dozen Somali-owned, state-funded childcare facilities in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that appeared to be completely deserted. Shirley produced a 42-minute video, viewed over 131 million times on X since December 26, alleging Minnesota governor Tim Walz “knew about the fraud but never reported it.”
Inspired by Shirley’s report, citizen journalists in multiple states with large Somali populations launched investigations recently.
In Kent, Washington, YouTuber Chris Sims visited seven suspicious Somali childcare sites and reported they were “very unhappy” to see him. Sims posted video of approaching a home listed as a daycare facility that appeared vacant, stating: “There was no sign of kids or being a Daycare facility.” A resident told him, “I wasn’t a daycare despite receiving tax dollars. One yelled ‘Call the police’ behind the door.”
On Monday, independent journalists Jonathan Choe and Cam Higby visited an alleged Somali daycare facility in Seattle that receives hundreds of thousands in taxpayer funds. The person who answered said there was no daycare there in the past or present. Higby noted Dhagash Childcare has received over $210,000 this year alone. Another facility in Kent, Washington, has received over $863,000 since 2023.
A reporter investigating potential fraud in Seattle’s Rainier Vista neighborhood on December 29 faced hostile reactions from Somali residents who called police.
Brown encouraged members of the Somali community experiencing threats or harassment to call the police or his office’s Hate Crimes & Bias Incident Hotline. “If you think fraud is happening, there are appropriate measures to report and investigate,” Brown added. “Go to DCYF’s website to learn more. And where fraud is substantiated and verified by law enforcement and regulatory agencies, people should be held accountable.”
A journalist countered that the threat was baseless, stating journalists have documented their visits on camera without harassment or threatening behavior.
