YouTuber Who Found “Somali Fraud” Backs Probe Into “Jewish Invasion”
Just a day after Republicans invited Nick Shirley to join them at the State of the Union address, the right-wing YouTuber endorsed a copy of his work warning of a “Jewish invasion.”
“EXPOSE EVERYTHING”, Shirley wrote on X, sharing a post from fellow right-wing content creator Tyler Oliveira announcing his recent “73-minute documentary on the Jewish invasion of New Jersey.”
Oliveira’s portfolio includes extracts titled “I Deported ILLEGAL Immigrants with ICE!” And dozens of videos dehumanizing Black people. In 2024, he publishes and unverified (and since debunked) amplified claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were causing “constant car accidents” and capturing and eating local pets.
But somehow, openly targeting the Jewish community was a step too far for Oliveira’s far-right audience.
“The responses to this tweet show the double standards and hypocrisy of half the ‘Republican influencer’ space,” Oliveira wrote, defending his work against widespread online criticism. “Does welfare abuse/fraud only suck when it’s a Somali? Ask your local “MAGA Republican influencer” where they draw the line.”
Oliveira was also banned from Patreon over the video, although it wasn’t the first time he posted a controversial article about Jewish communities. In January, the 26-year-old posted a video on YouTube titled “Inside New York City Overrun by Welfare Addicted Jews…”.
But in testament to the genre’s political affiliations, white supremacist Nick Fuentes defended Oliveira’s latest documentary, claims that “when it comes to Somali African Muslims, everything is tolerated…When another guy does the exact same thing to the Jews, ‘That’s another conflict.'”
Shirley clearly feels the same way.
Shirley gained national prominence last year after publishing a video which prompted the Conservative caucus to politically scapegoat Somali immigrants. Vice President JD Vance circulated the video, position that Shirley had “done far more useful journalism than any of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prize winners.”
In her widely publicized “investigation,” Shirley went door-to-door at scores of Somali-run day care centers in Minnesota, arguing that the sites that were unresponsive or allowed him — an unknown, unannounced white man — into a center full of children had fraudulently accepted federal funding.
It would later emerge that elements of Shirley’s report were incorrect or insufficiently reported: at least two of the centers featured in her video had been closed for several years, according to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families. The government had previously investigated federal fraud in Minnesota: Under the Biden administration, more than 90 Minnesotans were indicted, with at least 60 resulting in convictions.
Nevertheless, the report led to the suspension of $185 million intended for Minnesota by the Department of Health and Human Services.
It also sparked a national services controversy in which predominantly blue states were accused of misusing federal funds for programs focused on child care and local poverty. In truth, states of all stripes across the country have participated in abuse of social benefitsbut not everyone suffered from federal cuts. Instead, Donald Trump cut $10 billion from five Democratic states, including Minnesota.
