The Trump administration has announced that it is freezing child care funds to Minnesota after a series of fraud schemes in recent years. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on the social platform X on Tuesday that the step is in response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the state has spent years cracking down on fraudsters but that Trump is “politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.” The announcement comes after years of investigation. It began with a $300 million scheme for which 57 defendants in Minnesota have been convicted.
