The Washington state attorney general released a statement on X Tuesday evening warning independent journalists to stop investigating 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 the Washington state AG’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, Wednesday morning. “[The DOJ Civil Rights Division] takes potential violations of 18 USC § 242 seriously!” Dhillon added.
This statute, known as the Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law, 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 of the AGs 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, which has been viewed over 131 million times on X since it was posted on December 26, alleging that Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D.) “knew about the fraud but never reported it.”
Inspired by Shirley’s bombshell report, citizen journalists in multiple states with large Somali populations have launched their own investigations in recent days.
In the Kent, Washington area Tuesday, YouTuber Chris Sims, a self-described “gonzo journalist,” visited seven suspicious Somali childcare sites and reported that they were “very unhappy” to see him.
Sims posted a video of him approaching a private home listed as a childcare facility that appeared to be not as advertised.
“There was no sign of kids or being a Daycare facility,” Sims wrote. “I was told by a few they weren’t Daycares despite receiving tax payer dollars. One yelled ‘Call the police’ behind the door.”
Hellbound and Down 