Seattle-area Somalis seek officials’ help with daycare doxxing, immigration crackdown

Members of the Seattle-area Somali community say they are reeling from the impact of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric — he recently referred to Somali Americans as “garbage” — and from an immigration crackdown that has sent people to detention or left them unable to work.

In a meeting with Gov. Bob Ferguson and Seattle-area elected officials Monday, Somali Americans said outrage over fraud cases against unrelated Somali nonprofits in Minnesota is now fueling the doxxing and harassment of Somali child care providers in Washington state.

In Minnesota, federal prosecutors have obtained dozens of convictions in cases of stolen federal food aid during the Covid pandemic. Those investigations began under the Biden administration.

Then, in recent days, an unverified report by right-wing influencer Nick Shirley claimed that some Minnesota daycares operated by Somali residents were fraudulently obtaining state subsidies.

This weekend, FBI director Kash Patel called Covid fraud “the tip of a very large iceberg” and said he is sending more investigative resources to Minnesota.

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, state officials said they take fraud allegations seriously, but found no evidence of it in their unannounced inspections.

In the meantime, some journalists with conservative media outlets and policy groups in the Seattle area announced they are knocking on doors and urged people to visit and verify the status of Somali-run child care businesses in Washington state. The state is home to tens of thousands of Somali immigrants. It's one of the largest Somali populations on the West Coast, much of it concentrated in south King County.

Asia Adam is the executive director of West Seattle-based nonprofit Our Hope, which offers services for immigrants and refugees. She says local Somali child care providers are seeing their licensing information posted online, with Elon Musk and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz amplifying unfounded suspicions about these businesses.

“I think this is meant to cause a lot of fear — and the discrimination in itself comes from a place of hatred,” Adam said.

Child care providers were on panicked conference calls in the wee hours Monday morning, Adam said, urging one another to keep doors locked and stay vigilant.

“There’s a lot of effort being done on the ground by us, but we also need a rapid response, we need public support” from local officials, Adam said.

Seattle’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Director Hamdi Mohamed said she hears those child care providers seeking a public education campaign, and urged people to take any questions about licensing to the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families, rather than knocking on doors.

Mohamed helped facilitate the roundtable at Seattle City Hall. She’s aware of at least ten incidents where local child care providers said strangers came to their door in the last couple days.

Mohamed said Trump’s rhetoric "puts communities at risk” and “has no place in public life.”

Mohamud Adan is an organizer with the Drivers Union. It's affiliated with the Teamsters Local 117, which represents many Somali immigrants who work as drivers with Uber and Lyft. He said arrests by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement have occurred as drivers waited at Sea-Tac airport, as well as in local streets and restaurants.

Adan's union requested Monday’s meeting. He said Somalis who came to the U.S. seeking refuge and peace are now being terrorized and bullied instead. Adan said he was encouraged by the concern from Ferguson, state legislators, and local officials, but he hopes their comments will translate into action.

“Unless this community comes together and the leadership of this state comes together to support and do something about this, obviously these problems are going to continue and a lot more people will be harmed,” Adan said.

Immigrants and their advocates said people facing detention need legal representation that is in short supply, while their families need financial help due to their lost income.

The meeting included elected leaders, as well as representatives from the Washington State Attorney General’s office and incoming Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans. They said they will seek investigations of potential hate crimes and any other violations of state law.

Seattle City Councilmember Eddie Lin, who represents District 2 including southeast Seattle, said he plans to contact the Seattle Police Department, to make sure they're "prioritizing patrols in the neighborhoods and encouraging people to call 911 if there are strangers showing up to their doors.”

After Monday's meeting, Ferguson said he worries about the country "when we have a president who refers to an entire community of people as 'garbage.'”

“We need to lean in as a state on expressing to folks on the receiving end of that language that that’s not how they’re viewed in our state,” he said. “They’re valued, they’re seen, they’re heard, and we’re doing everything we can to support them.”