When fraud investigator Scott Dexter found evidence of bogus child care assistance payments being paid to members of Minnesota’s Somali community years ago, his probe was derailed by accusations of racial bias.
Mr. Dexter told Congress on Wednesday that recent revelations of massive fraud, focused heavily on Somalis, track with what he saw in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program from 2014 to 2019.
He said they found centers with no visible play areas and few children present. But when his team investigated the issue, an outside review faulted his team’s approach and hindered his ability to pursue the matter.
“We were labeled as racially biased, despite the fact that our case selection was driven entirely by funding data,” he said.
He said his team went looking for centers that received the highest levels of funding, and it so happened that many of those were owned and operated by members of the local Somali community.
Mr. Dexter, a former police officer, told his story to the House Judiciary Committee, which is one of several congressional panels delving into new reports of massive benefits fraud among the Somali community in Minnesota.
Also testifying was conservative influencer Nick Shirley, who visited seven Minnesota childcare programs suspected of fraud and, like Mr. Dexter, said he found little evidence of any care being delivered.
He said accusations of racism are a “deflection technique to make you not want to speak out against the fraud.”
Rep. Andy Biggs, chairman of the subcommittee on crime and federal government surveillance, decried the politicization of the fraud allegations, saying it prevented people from searching for solutions.
“I think the symptoms being exposed is critical because then it actually motivates people to try to get to the root cause,” the Arizona Republican said.
He said that while Minnesota has become a focus, investigations are needed throughout the country.
But Rep. Lucy McBath, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, said the questions about fraud are an assault on the social safety net programs themselves.
“The Trump administration does not want you to trust these programs because if you don’t trust them, they’re easier to destroy. They do not want you to trust entire communities, because if you don’t trust them, they’re easier to intimidate,” the Georgia lawmaker said. “But we cannot let that happen.”
She called for “robust and responsible oversight.”
Jennifer Larson, founder of the Holland Autism Center and Clinic, said that her program and others all over Minnesota are collapsing under the weight of efforts to combat fraud.
Her clinic’s funds are being withheld, she said, and she is now over $400,000 in debt.
“Fraud must be stopped and criminals prosecuted,” she said. “I’m a taxpayer. I live in Minnesota. This is disgusting. But families and children should never pay the price for government failure.”
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, acting vice president of policy and government affairs at the Project On Government Oversight, offered a solution.
“We must first look at watchdogs, critical sources of information, and practitioners of oversight from within the federal government itself,” he said. “I’m specifically talking about inspectors general, the Government Accountability Office and whistleblowers.”
He said the Trump administration has whittled away at the inspector general corps, which he said undermined anti-fraud efforts.
