The now-infamous Quality “Learing” Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has reportedly been “trucking in” children following the release of citizen journalist Nick Shirley’s viral video alleging fraud.
The Quality “Learing” Center — which found itself at the center of national attention and mockery after Shirley’s video showed the facility misspelled “learning” on its sign — was “bustling” with children on Monday, with one resident telling the New York Post they “never” saw children “go in there until today.”
The local told the outlet that seeing children at the daycare center on Monday — just three days after Shirley shared his video saying he had uncovered $110 million in fraud — was “highly unusual,” as the area typically resembles a ghost town in which everything appears closed.
“We’ve never seen kids go in there until today,” the Minneapolis resident said. “That parking lot is empty all the time, and I was under the impression that place is permanently closed.”
The New York Post said it visited the daycare center on Monday, reporting the “busy parking lot” was “in stark contrast” to the local’s ghost town description, as well as Shirley’s video showing what appeared to be a closed-down facility.
In his video, Shirley knocked on the door to the Quality “Learing” Center to inquire about enrolling a child while a woman shouted, “Don’t open up! It’s ICE!” in the parking lot.
“You do realize that there’s supposed to be 99 children here at this building, but there’s no one here?” the journalist asked the woman, receiving silence in response. The scene can be found at the 14:55 minute mark in Shirley’s video.
Watch Below:
No children appeared to be at the Quality “Learing” Center at the time of Shirley’s visit. The facility lists its hours as Monday through Thursday, 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Ibrahim Ali, the 26-year-old son of the daycare center’s owner, reportedly blamed the sign’s typo on the graphic designer the facility hired.
“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,” Ali told the New York Post, adding, “That’s gonna be fixed.”
Notably, the address of the daycare center is also misspelled, reading “Nicolet” instead of “Nicollet” Avenue above the facility’s door.
It remains unclear how long the Quality “Learing” Center’s misspellings have been on display out front.
Ali, who said he is the manager of the daycare center and helps with homework and paperwork at the facility, went on to claim that Shirley visited the Quality “Learing” Center before they opened for the day.
“Do you go to a coffee shop at 11:00 p.m. and say, ‘Hey, they’re not working?'” he argued.
Ali also claimed that roughly 16 children were inside the daycare center on Monday afternoon.
The New York Post was also met with hostility when visiting the Quality “Learing” Center on Monday, with one employee angrily telling a reporter, “Don’t fucking come to this area. Get the fuck out of here.”
Another employee, who was seen opening the daycare center at 2:00 p.m. on Monday told the outlet that Shirley’s reporting was “a lie.”
“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.”
The New York Post also noted that agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid a visit to ABC Learning Center — several miles from Quality “Learing” Center — on Monday morning.
The ICE visit was part of a large-scale investigation into widespread alleged fraud, which reportedly mainly involves members of Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community.
Shirley’s video, which was posted on Friday, went viral on X, racking up more than 127 million views at the time of this writing.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.