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The Minneapolis daycare center with a sign notoriously misspelling "learning" as "learing" suddenly filled with children days after a viral video suggested it operated as a ghost facility amid allegations of widespread taxpayer fraud in Minnesota's social services.
Taxpayer dollars flow to phantom operations raking in millions while providing no real childcare — another black eye for a state already reeling from billions in alleged scams targeting vulnerable programs.
A local resident described the sudden activity at Quality "Learing" Center as suspicious.
"We’ve never seen kids go in there until today. That parking lot is empty all the time, and I was under the impression that place is permanently closed,” the person said.
Reporters observed about 20 children entering and leaving the facility Monday, a sharp contrast to footage from YouTuber Nick Shirley.
In his video posted Friday titled, "I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal", Shirley confronted staff at the apparently empty center licensed for 99 children.
"You do realize there’s supposed to be 99 children here in this building, and there’s no one here?" Shirley asked the person answering the door to the site in his 42-minute bombshell exposé, which was posted online Friday.
Ibrahim Ali, 26, son of the owner and self-described manager, defended the center.
"Do you go to a coffee shop at 11 p.m. and say, ‘Hey, they’re not working?’” Ali argued to The Post.
He blamed a graphic designer for the infamous typo.
"What I understand is [the owners] dealt with a graphic designer. He did it incorrectly. I guess they didn’t think it was a big issue," said Ali, 26, who claimed he helps out with homework and paperwork at the facility.
"That’s gonna be fixed," he said of the sign.
Ali reported about 16 children inside Monday afternoon.
A woman opening the center at 2 p.m. rejected the accusations outright.
#NEW: The Quality Learing Center in Minneapolis is now "trucking" in children after Nick Shirley's viral video, according to the New York Post.
— Brandon Tatum (@TheOfficerTatum) December 30, 2025
The Post reports that the parking lot at the infamous Quality Learing Center is now "bustling with kids."
"We’ve never seen kids… pic.twitter.com/RN86RBhFto
"We don’t have fraud. That’s a lie," she said, adding, "I don’t want to talk to you. I want to talk to my lawyer."
One employee grew hostile, recording a reporter and shouting, "Don’t f–king come to this area. Get the f–k out of here," the employee said angrily.
Federal scrutiny intensified elsewhere. ICE agents visited nearby ABC Learning Center Monday, demanding attendance records as part of probes into alleged fraud largely involving Minnesota's Somali immigrant community.
"They wanted two months of attendance [records], we gave them two months of attendance," Ahmed Hasan, director of ABC Learning Center, told The Post.
He said the agents said they were going to check if everything was correct.
Hasan admitted fear during Shirley's visit.
"That time ICE was coming for the Somali community. We were scared to open the door," he said. "They come with eight people. Five of them had masks. We thought they were ICE."
He dismissed the broader allegations, calling the focus on Somali immigrant fraud "a targeted situation," and said the allegations against his and other day care facilities in Minneapolis were "a political game."
Quality "Learing" Center has not faced public charges in the federal investigation, which reportedly involves up to $9 billion in fraudulent claims across state programs.
Authorities continue reviewing records from multiple centers highlighted in the viral footage, but no new charges emerged immediately.
The probe underscores ongoing concerns over oversight in taxpayer-funded childcare assistance, leaving questions about accountability in Minnesota's embattled social services system.
