Nick Shirley is an embarrassment to journalism

If Nick Shirley, YouTuber and independent “journalist,” had handed in his coverage of Minnesota to me, as an editor, the page would have been covered in question marks. 

In a YouTube video published on Dec. 26, Shirley alleged that the Minnesota state government had enabled billions of dollars in fraud, claiming that some Somali immigrants had collected government funds to operate daycares that don’t exist.

His source? A man referred to in the video only as David. David’s qualifications? He lives in Minnesota. He also conducted his own “research” on the fraudulent daycares and supposedly has some contacts at “the Capitol.” 

My first question as an editor is, what kind of research has he done? The only information he gives? “Every time I went by, they never had a single child there.” 

For this to be credible, he would need to be specific: did he conduct a stakeout? Could there be children inside? What time of day does he usually drive by, and could they be closed at that time?

When asked how deep the fraud goes, David says, “You heard it’s seven to $10 billion, maybe more. Now, the numbers have been revised. They think it’s more like $8 billion.”

Eight billion dollars in fraud is serious. It indicates thievery on a systemic level, and allegations of such fraud would require water-tight evidence in any newsroom.

Using paperwork obtained through David’s “contacts at the Capitol,” he and Shirley drive across Minnesota to find children at the daycares they claim are fraudulent.

As they drive, excerpts from the paperwork appear in the corner of the screen. These include the suspected fraudulent daycares’ names, addresses, license numbers and owner names. Underneath that information, it reads “LICENSED FOR 40 CHILDREN!” and “Number of children at this facility: Zero.” The amount of government funding that the daycares allegedly received is printed under the phrase: “Money stolen from Minnesota.”

It’s unclear if this is the actual paperwork or Shirley’s own fabrication, but either way, it’s firmer evidence of deception than anything they find at the daycares. 

When Shirley and David visit these daycares, the workers, mostly Somalis, react defensively to Shirley’s interrogation. Doors are closed in his face, his made-up child, Jimmy, is denied enrolment and accusations of fraud are fervently denied. Shirley frames this hostility as evidence of guilt. 

Shirley and David travel with a bodyguard — a bulky man who is never far while the duo approach daycares and berate employees. 

To ensure sensationalism, Shirley fails to acknowledge the intimidation tactics he employs. His bodyguard, wearing a hat and face covering, very closely resembles an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. 

When he approaches immigrant business owners to accuse them of breaking the law, their guarded reactions may stem from fears for their own safety, rather than attempts to cover up a fraud conspiracy.

After Shirley’s “exposé” was published, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said in a post on X, “This dude has done more useful journalism than any winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes.” 

On Dec. 30, the Trump administration announced that it plans to halt all childcare funding to Minnesota until an investigation can be done into the fraud. By Jan. 7, 2,000 ICE agents were deployed to the state for what has been described by U.S. federal officials as “the largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever carried out.” As of Jan. 26th, this operation has led to the murder of two U.S. citizens.

This isn’t the first time Shirley has been at the heart of an ICE raid. On Sept. 25, 2025, he posted a video titled, “I Confronted Dangerous Migrant Scammers in NYC, Canal Street.” In the video, Shirley films street vendors, labelling them scammers and “foreign-sized armies from Africa and Latin America” who “run lawless in America’s biggest city.”

Weeks later, the White House shared a press release titled “Making New York’s Canal Street Safe Again.”

Shirley has established a relationship with the current U.S. administration. In October, he was invited to the White House for a roundtable discussion about the “Antifa” movement. 

It should come as no surprise that the U.S. government has enlisted an imposter journalist to perpetuate its agenda. 

Fraud in America certainly exists. 

But what Shirley is doing — assigning blame solely on immigrants without any actual evidence — perpetuates an us-versus-them narrative, sows seeds of distrust and justifies racist ideologies. For a more well-rounded scope, I encourage Shirley to investigate Trump’s recent list of pardons for his next YouTube video. 

In January 2026, Trump issued pardons to several American businesspeople convicted of various fraud charges. If Shirley’s so interested in fraud, he should investigate why people found guilty of committing it are walking free. Unless, of course, he’s only interested in weaponizing journalism to scapegoat immigrants as justification to violate their human rights. 

Blaming systemic problems on immigrants and at-risk minority populations is misinformation intended to cause harm. What Shirley is doing is far from real journalism.

We’ve finally got something Trump can correctly call fake news.