A month later the Trump administration began with it immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, right creators their attention to a new target in search of fraud: California.
In the last few weeks, the creators of the right side have been instrumental in the development of Fraud allegations in Minnesota that preceded the administration’s surge in federal immigration agents going after several California welfare programs, making unfounded accusations of fraud — and could lay the groundwork for a similar federal crackdown in the nation’s largest Democratic-run state. They have already gained support from some key allies of President Donald Trump as well.
Nick Shirley, the right-wing influencer whose viral YouTube video claimed to expose an alleged $100 million fraud scheme involving Somali child care centers in Minnesota, posted on Instagram over the weekend announcing his arrival in California. “Secrets,” Shirley wrote in an Instagram story set to Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.” It’s unclear exactly what Shirley plans to do, but she admitted to also “investigating” Somali-run child care centers in California, according to posts that surrounded by X at the end of the week.
Shirley works with Amy Reichert, a private investigator and failed politician who claims to be investigating “ghost daycares” in California. In her Minnesota video, Shirley “investigates” fraud by showing daycares asking to meet children. He seems to be applying the same method in San Diego. Reichert Posted a photo with Shirley to X on Saturdaywrote “California, we’re here! When @nickshirlye drops the video, it’s going to be 🔥.” (Local outlets in Minnesota published many stories covering child care fraud years before Shirley’s video came out.)
On Sunday, Benny Johnson, a pro-Trump creator and Turning Point USA contributor, published his own “documentary,” in the same vein as the one Shirley filmed in Minnesota. In it, he claims to have revealed a multimillion-dollar “homeless industrial complex” in California. Johnson joined two Republican gubernatorial candidates, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton, a former adviser to UK prime minister David Cameron, in the video, which they claimed was an attempt to uncover the fraudulent use of federal funds to support the homeless in California. Johnson also claimed that the state “these federal dollars are being used to rig national elections.”
The office of California governor Gavin Newsom rejected the claims made by Johnson in an X post on Sundaycalling the video “literally the conspiracy theory meme in real life.”
Johnson’s latest video attempts to claim that California’s homeless shelters are increasingly filled with undocumented immigrants. His main piece of evidence is a phone call to an alleged “whistleblower” whose identity is being withheld. (Newsom’s office responded to this claimcalling it “as real as our Free Unicorn for all undocumented people program.”)
The same week Johnson announced he would travel to California to investigate “fraud,” Trump called California “more corrupt” than Minnesota in a post on Social Truth. “California Fraud Investigation Begins,” Trump wrote. Last week, Trump named a new assistant attorney generalColin McDonald, who will focus on fraud investigations at the Justice Department.
The others GREAT pro-Trump accounts and news outlets, like the Voice of America Realboosted Johnson’s new video. Larry Elder, talk radio host and former presidential candidate, X’s video was reposted on Tuesdaywho wrote “California’s fraud makes Minnesota’s look like a starter kit.”
Elon Musk, which Shirley appreciated when she first raised her video in December Minnesotaalso increased news coverage related to fraud in California. “Truly insane level of deception!” Musk said, repost a story from Fox News earlier this week.







