Politics
Federal officials to halt more than $10B in funding to 5 states over non-citizen benefit concerns: report
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The Trump administration is moving to freeze more than $10 billion in federal child care and social services funding to five Democrat-led states amid concerns taxpayer dollars were improperly diverted to non-citizens, according to a report.
Officials reportedly told The New York Post that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will freeze funding from the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and the Social Services Block Grant, affecting California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York over concerns the benefits were fraudulently funneled to non-citizens.
More than $7.3 billion in TANF funding would be withheld from the five states, along with nearly $2.4 billion from the CCDF and another $869 million from the Social Services Block Grant.
The funding pauses were expected to be announced in letters sent to state officials Monday, citing concerns that benefits were improperly directed to non-U.S. citizens.
ABBOTT ORDERS COMPREHENSIVE FRAUD PROBE INTO TEXAS CHILD CARE FUNDING AFTER MINNESOTA SCANDAL
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will freeze funding from the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and the Social Services Block Grant, affecting California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York over concerns the benefits were fraudulently funneled to non-citizens, according to a report. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
A 2019 audit by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that New York State improperly claimed $24.7 million in federal reimbursement for child care subsidies paid to New York City that did not comply with program rules.
The audit attributed the overbilling to system errors and oversight failures – not criminal fraud – and state officials agreed to refund the funds and implement corrective controls, according to the report.
Following the release of details surrounding the potential funding freeze, New York Democrats sharply criticized the Trump administration’s move, arguing it would harm families who rely on child care assistance.
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., accused the administration of using the issue for political retaliation and warned it would hurt children and low-income families across the state.
“Trump is threatening to freeze child care funding in New York and targeting our children for political retribution. It’s immoral and indefensible,” she wrote in a post on X. “I’m demanding the administration abandon any plans to freeze this funding and stop hurting New York families.”
Along with her post, Gillibrand also shared a public statement regarding the freezing of funds.
HHS CUTS OFF MINNESOTA CHILD CARE PAYMENTS OVER ALLEGED DAYCARE FRAUD SCHEME
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., spoke out after the Trump administration moved on Jan. 5, 2026, to freeze billions in federal child care and social services funding to several blue states. (Getty Images)
“My faith guides my life and public service. It’s our job to serve the people most in need and most at risk – no matter what state they live in or what political party their family or elected representatives belong to,” she said. “To use the power of the government to harm the neediest Americans is immoral and indefensible.
“This has nothing to do with fraud and everything to do with political retribution that punishes poor children in need of assistance,” Gillibrand added. “I demand that President Trump unfreeze this funding and stop this brazen attack on our children.”
The NY Post first reported that in December, HHS sent letters to Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey seeking information on whether billions in taxpayer funds may have unlawfully helped “fuel illegal and mass migration.”
Those requests were followed by investigations launched by the Treasury Department and the House Oversight Committee into a growing fraud scandal involving several nonprofits tied to the Somali community in the Twin Cities.
An estimated 130,000 illegal migrants were living in Minnesota as of 2023 — about 40,000 more than in 2019 and roughly 2% of the state’s population — according to the Pew Research Center. The state’s Somali diaspora exceeds 100,000 people, with most concentrated in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area.
The news on Monday came the same day Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced he was dropping his bid for a third term as governor amid stinging criticism of his handling of the state’s massive welfare assistance fraud scandal.
KAROLINE LEAVITT WARNS ‘PEOPLE WILL BE IN HANDCUFFS’ AS FEDS ZERO IN ON MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL
GOP lawmakers in Minnesota are calling for Gov. Tim Walz to resign over the exploding fraud crisis. (Getty Images)
Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.
More than 90 people — most from Minnesota’s large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme.
How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.
MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL INTENSIFIES DEBATE OVER STRIPPING CITIZENSHIP
Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was found at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state. (Madelin Fuerste / Fox News Channel)
Prosecutors said that some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.
Trump addressed Walz’s announcement of leaving the race on Monday, in a post on Truth Social. “Minnesota’s Corrupt Governor will possibly leave office before his Term is up but, in any event, will not be running again because he was caught, REDHANDED, along with Ilhan Omar, and others of his Somali friends, stealing Tens of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars,” the president wrote. “I feel certain the facts will come out, and they will reveal a seriously unscrupulous, and rich, group of ‘SLIMEBALLS.’
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“Governor Walz has destroyed the State of Minnesota, but others, like Governor Gavin Newscum, JB Pritzker, and Kathy Hochul, have done, in my opinion, an even more dishonest and incompetent job,” Trump added. “NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
President Trump vowed political payback last year when Republican state lawmakers in Indiana defied him on redistricting, refusing to draw new congressional maps to help the party in the midterms.
He delivered on that threat.
On Tuesday, Republican primary voters backed at least five of the seven challengers whom Mr. Trump endorsed over incumbent state senators, according to The Associated Press. One incumbent was re-elected, and one race was too close to call.
Even as the president’s poll numbers sag, the results in Indiana showed his enduring sway over Republican primary voters and his continuing ability to exact political revenge. Here is what we learned on Tuesday:
Trump still dominates the conversation.
Whether voters were glad to hear from him or wished he had stayed out of a statehouse election, Mr. Trump’s involvement loomed over the campaign.
The challengers backed by the president included his photo on their campaign literature and posted social media photos of themselves at the White House. Some of the incumbents took pains to explain points of agreement with Mr. Trump, even as the president attacked them on social media.
“Tonight was a lesson to Republican lawmakers throughout the nation,” said Senator Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican who backed the challengers. “There are consequences for not representing your voters.”
In Columbus, Ind., south of Indianapolis, Brenda Forgey said the president’s endorsement proved persuasive.
“We are Republicans through and through, and if he endorses anyone, we are behind them,” Ms. Forgey said.
But that same endorsement drove James Vogel, another Columbus voter, to support the incumbent.
“He is ruling by chaos,” Mr. Vogel said of the president. “Every day, every week, it is something new.”
Trump succeeded in his first of several attempts to oust Republicans who defy him.
The result was a stunning rebuke for independent-minded Republicans and a warning to officials elsewhere in the country who have crossed Mr. Trump, the undisputed leader of the Republican Party.
“Donald Trump maintains his singular ability to catapult candidates from obscurity to Congress or, in this case, the Indiana Statehouse,” said Pete Seat, an Indiana-based veteran of the George W. Bush White House. “The organizational heft, the messaging acumen and the level of coordination required to pull off this feat cannot be — and should not be — underestimated.”
The results are surely cause for concern for two Republicans who have bucked Mr. Trump in the past and are now facing primary opponents backed by the president: Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Like the newly deposed Indiana Republicans, Mr. Massie and Mr. Cassidy have long histories with their constituents and are known quantities locally. But Tuesday proved once again that in a Republican primary, Mr. Trump’s desires often outweigh whatever local good will candidates have built up.
Republican voters were split on Trump.
Indiana voters supported Mr. Trump by large margins in the last three presidential elections. Even still, and even as his preferred candidates racked up victories, Republicans voiced mixed reviews of his second term and were divided about the importance of his endorsement.
“He is doing what he is supposed to,” Athena Purtlebaugh said after she voted for the president’s candidate in Taylorsville, Ind. “Yes, he is coarse sometimes and I cringe, but he is doing the right things.”
But in Tipton, Ind., Jeff Crouch said that “he didn’t want to vote for anybody that was endorsed by President Trump.”
Mr. Crouch, a Republican, said he had voted for Mr. Trump previously, but not in 2024. He described his impression of the president’s second term as “somewhere between terrible and really terrible.”
The fight for the Indiana G.O.P. continues.
Indiana Republicans have amassed near-total control of the state over the last 20 years. But the fight over redistricting brought long-simmering fissures into the open.
The divide is not exactly between moderates and conservatives, but more between the party establishment and an ascendant faction that has modeled its style after the president’s.
On the one side, the state’s governor, lieutenant governor and many members of the congressional delegation lined up behind Mr. Trump.
On the other, former Gov. Mitch Daniels, who helped usher in Indiana’s era of Republican dominance, became a leading voice against redistricting. His successor as governor, former Vice President Mike Pence, mostly avoided the redistricting debate, but endorsed one of the incumbents seeking re-election.
Indiana’s two Democratic congressmen could face inhospitable new maps.
With so many Trump-backed challengers ousting incumbents who had voted against redistricting, the path appears clearer for drawing new maps before the 2028 elections.
Because Republicans hold durable majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature, the results from Tuesday’s State Senate primaries made it more likely there would be support for a G.O.P.-friendly redistricting next year.
It remains unclear how aggressive the new class of Indiana Republicans in the State Senate will be. Democrats hold seats based in Indianapolis, the state capital and largest city, and in the suburban Chicago communities of Northwest Indiana.
Kim Bellware, Robert Chiarito, Amy Lynch and Kevin Williams contributed reporting from Indiana.
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President Donald Trump marked Cinco de Mayo on Tuesday with a new Truth Social post featuring a stylized “NICE” graphic — a play on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The post adds to a string of Cinco de Mayo messages from Trump that have repeatedly drawn attention online, including his widely shared 2016 taco bowl post that resurfaces nearly every year around the holiday.
Trump has frequently used the holiday to share posts blending humor, politics and immigration messaging; and had already publicly embraced the “NICE” branding concept ahead of Tuesday’s post.
The image shared Tuesday featured an eagle-and-shield design above the word “NICE,” styled similarly to federal law enforcement branding and appearing to reference ICE.
TRUMP VOWS NOT TO HELP BLUE CITIES WITH RIOTS, INSTRUCTS ICE AND BORDER PATROL TO PROTECT FEDERAL PROPERTY
A stylized graphic reading “NICE,” a reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, features an eagle and shield design in an image shared by President Donald Trump on Cinco de Mayo. (@realDonaldTrump via X)
Trump endorsed the idea of rebranding ICE as “NICE” in a late April Truth Social post, writing: “GREAT IDEA!!! DO IT.”
The phrase originated from a social media suggestion that Trump later amplified online.
The latest post also brought renewed attention to Trump’s most recognizable Cinco de Mayo moment.
HERE ARE 5 OF GUY FIERI’S FAVORITE TACO SPOTS ACROSS AMERICA AHEAD OF CINCO DE MAYO
President Donald Trump poses with a taco bowl at Trump Tower in a Cinco de Mayo post shared in 2016. (@realDonaldTrump via X)
In 2016, then-candidate Trump posted a photo of himself eating a taco bowl at Trump Tower alongside the caption: “Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!”
The post quickly went viral and has continued resurfacing online in the years since.
The image showed Trump seated at a desk with a taco bowl in front of him, giving a thumbs up as he posed for the camera.
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The emblem of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears on a smartphone screen with the U.S. flag displayed on a laptop screen in Athens, Greece, on Feb. 3, 2026. (Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto)
Last year, Trump reshared the taco bowl post and wrote: “This was so wonderful, 9 years ago today!”
The post continues to go viral online as users revisit the original taco bowl image each year on the holiday.
One user posted an image of the president’s original 2016 taco bowl post, writing, “Cinco de Trumpo.”
Another commenter wrote, “such a classic,” and another quipped, “maybe the greatest tweet of all time.”
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Trump’s original taco bowl post remains one of the most recognizable Cinco de Mayo moments of the social media era.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
SACRAMENTO — State elections officials warned voters Tuesday to send their mail-in ballots in early after changes at the U.S. Postal Service that have led to slower mail service throughout California.
Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber said vote-by-mail ballots should be put in the mail at least a week before the June 2 election.
The officials also cast skepticism about social media posts that urge Democrats to vote “late” and to rally around one candidate in order to ensure a Republican doesn’t win. The posts are similar in wording and have spread on Facebook in the last week.
Bonta said the posts, which were brought up by The Times at a news conference in Sacramento, could be “misinformation” or “disinformation” and “potentially unlawful.”
“Get your ballot in the mail at least a week early,” he said. “You want to make sure your vote is counted. And the misinformation that you’re referencing is the misinformation we’re trying to combat.”
Voters using the postal service to mail their ballot within a week of the election should go inside the post office and ask that their ballot be postmarked, or can drop off their ballot at a secure voter box, officials said.
The new guidance comes after sweeping changes made by the Postal Service last year that has reduced the number of trips to pick up mail at post offices in mostly rural areas in the country, including California.
A Times analysis of last year’s November special election found that there was a significantly higher number of mail-in ballots that arrived too late to be counted compared with the 2024 election.
Rural counties saw some of the biggest increase in rejected ballots because they came in too late, The Times found.
The changes to the Postal Service are nationwide, but are particularly relevant in California because the vast majority of people vote in the state using mail-in ballots.
Voters who mail a ballot on election day, or even two days before, may not see their vote counted because it will arrive too late, Bonta told reporters.
“You want your vote to be counted, I want your vote to be counted,” Bonta said. “If you vote earlier, you maximize that possibility that it will.”
Vote-by-mail ballots are considered late if they are not postmarked on or ahead of election day or if the postmarked ballots do not arrive within seven days of the election.
Weber’s office also said it would look into a recent trend of social posts that urge California Democrats to “vote late” in the June 2 election.
The posts, which have appeared on Facebook and Instagram, are similar in wording, and tell Democrats to hold off from voting early to ensure that two Republican don’t make the two top spots, and to rally around one Democrat.
California’s primary election system allows the two candidates who received the most votes to advance to the November election, regardless of party.
With many Democrats crowding the ballot this year, some Democratic leaders have expressed concern fear that two Republicans — businessman Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — will take the top two spots because Democratic voters will be splintered among the party’s top seven candidates.
The validity of the social media posts are under scrutiny.
One post on Facebook last week, for instance, purports to be written by historian Heather Cox Richardson. The post warned voters not to vote until after all the debates in California have concluded and the front-runner is clear.
Richardson told The Times that she’s not connected to the post. “I didn’t write it and we can’t figure out who did,” she said in an email. “I haven’t — and won’t — take any position in a primary.”
The last statewide election in California was closely watched after the U.S. Department of Justice said would monitor polling sites in some California counties after a request by California Republican Party officials.
However, the election proceeded without any incident.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday sent a letter to elections officials in the state’s 58 counties that highlighted recent legislation mandating that California ballots be counted within 13 days, instead of 30 days. Newsom thanked the elections staff for their work and urged a speedy vote count.
“We must acknowledge that the longer the voting count takes,” Newsom wrote, “the more mis- and disinformation spreads.”
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