The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that the Trump Administration is freezing over $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, citing that it called concerns about fraud and misuse.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement that “For too long, Democrat-led states and Governors have been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud to occur under their watch.”
Since assuming the office, the Trump administration has threatened to cut federal funding to groups and states due to a variety of reasons, including purported fraud in programs in states led by Democrats, as well as diversity programs and pro-Palestinian university demonstrations against assaults on Gaza by the US ally Israel.
HHS advised on Tuesday that the five states, which all have Democratic governors, that its freeze covered the “Child Care and Development Fund” worth $2.4 billion, the “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families” worth $7.35 billion, and the “Social Services Block Grant” worth $869 million.”
The department issued a statement that the states would only access those funds on a limited basis until it was reviewed further. The administration has not presented the details of the fraud allegations, as well as the expansion scheme, to withhold funds initially reported by the New York Post. Therefore, the freeze was denounced by democrats.
“Our states should not be political pawns in a fight that Donald Trump seems to have with blue state governors,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, citing that the move was “vindictive” and “cruel.”
Trump himself has not addressed the specifics, but he announced on social media on Tuesday: “The Fraud Investigation of California has begun.”
However, the HHS officials indicated that no state would get funds for childcare in the fallout unless they give further verification. A number of states told the Associated Press that they were not being advised on that decision.
Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom, said in an email that “Donald Trump is a deranged, habitual liar whose relationship with reality ended years ago” and defended California’s record at stamping out fraud in government programs.
Trump has made a decision to stop funding, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, claimed that he intends to use it as a political goal, and not to prevent fraud.
The Trump administration has lately targeted Minnesota, claiming that there is widespread fraud being perpetrated by immigrants in the welfare system and in the social service programs.
The Trump administration officials have often and aggressively criticized the Somali community in the state, which is the largest in the country, and the Minnesota governor Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee as the vice-presidential nominee in 2024, and the Democratic representative Ilhan Omar, who represents a Minneapolis-based district in Congress and is a Somali American.
Federal childcare funding has been frozen in Minnesota since late last month as investigations continue into a spate of alleged fraud schemes at daycare centers operated by individuals with family ties to Somalia.
Rights advocates stated that the Trump administration is utilizing the fraud investigations as an excuse to target immigrants and political opponents more broadly.
