WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Child Care for Every Family Network released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it will freeze federal child care funding to Minnesota, putting children across the state at risk of losing care, destabilizing working families, and threatening the livelihoods of child care providers. The announcement follows attacks from the Trump Administration uplifting recent unsubstantiated claims, by a right-wing provocateur with a documented record of misinformation, targeting Somali-owned child care centers.  

Andrea Paluso Co-Director of the Child Care for Every Family Network, released the following statement: 

“This reckless action is nothing more than racist fearmongering that weaponizes disinformation at the expense of families in Minnesota and across the country who rely on child care assistance to work, survive, and care for their children.

That the Trump Administration would freeze federal funds without evidence, due process, or a new investigation, represents a dangerous erosion of evidence-based governance and signals an intentional choice to privilege right-wing ideology and racial scapegoating over facts and what is best for children.

Child care is one of the most popular and bipartisan issues among voters, with families across the political spectrum demanding lower costs and expanded access. But rather than confronting skyrocketing costs, workforce shortages, and lack of child care access, the Administration instead peddling false accusations to justify punishment, stoke racial fear, and criminalize Black immigrants. This has absolutely nothing to do with accountability or protecting taxpayer dollars. It is a blatantly racist, baseless, anti-immigrant attack that weaponizes misinformation – without offering a single solution to the child care crisis crushing families in Minnesota and across the country.”

The Trump Administration’s recent actions are deliberate and reflect a pattern of politically motivated attacks rather than serious or responsible oversight. Not only have these allegations already been reported on and reviewed by the State of Minnesota, but the Minnesota House Republican leadership has already publicly acknowledged directing a known peddler of misinformation to specific child care sites and politically amplifying a narrative built on claims that prior state reviews did not substantiate. This misuse of oversight data has already been criticized and rejected by state auditors in 2019, when racially targeted allegations by Minnesota Republicans against Somali child care providers were formally investigated by the State of Minnesota and found to be unsubstantiated. Rather than offering solutions to protect against fraud, Minnesota Republicans appear to be coordinating with the Trump administration and using this disinformation campaign to manufacture controversy and attack political opponents. 

The consequences of this funding freeze in Minnesota will be immediate and devastating. More than 4,000 child care programs in Minnesota serve families who rely on Child Care Assistance. By freezing these funds, the Trump Administration is putting children, families, and providers at risk right now—destabilizing families, threatening the closure of small child care businesses, and damaging our broader economy, all while doing nothing to improve accountability or child safety.

Even more troubling is the broader context in which this action is occurring. At the same time the Administration is targeting Somali-led child care providers, it has openly floated the possibility of denaturalizing Somali Americans and other immigrants – escalating from policy attacks to direct threats against citizenship itself. Taken together, these actions reveal a coordinated effort to intimidate, marginalize, and destabilize Somali communities, not a good-faith attempt to improve child care oversight.

Families, child care providers, organizers, and advocates across the country have been clear about what we need to fix the child care crisis: robust and permanent funding that ensures care for every single child, at no cost to families and good wages and benefits for child care providers of all types, with a pathway to unionizing for those who want to. Anything less — like paltry tax breaks for businesses or temporary tax credits for families — is a bandaid fix that continues to create harm for families and child care providers. 

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