Locations of Executed Search Warrants in Daycare Fraud Investigation (Credit: DOJ)American taxpayers just got another look at how the childcare subsidy machine actually works in Gavin Newsom’s California.The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that 12 naturalized citizens and lawful permanent residents, originally from Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, have been charged in a more than $10 million home-daycare fraud scheme in San Diego.Prosecutors say the defendants obtained California licenses to run home childcare, signed up with Child Development Associates and the YMCA to collect federal and county subsidies meant for low-income working families, then knowingly submitted false attendance records claiming they were watching children on days and at times when they were not.They signed those forms under penalty of perjury. The money still showed up as direct deposits.More than 250 federal, state, and local officers arrested all 12 defendants in a coordinated Thursday-morning raid and executed search warrants at the San Diego-area homes they claimed were daycare facilities.U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon put it bluntly: “Today is a bad day for home daycare fraud. These fraudsters may have criminally gamed the system before. But today, the game is over.”IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Jarod Koopman said investigators “uncovered patterns of deceit that revealed twelve ghost daycare operations billing for children who were never present,” and that proceeds went to luxury homes, overseas wire transfers, and large cash withdrawals.According to federal complaints, surveillance footage showed that Abdulrahman Ayman Alawad claimed to care for 23 children in March 2026 and 25 children in April. However, cameras reportedly captured children entering or leaving his facility on only one of 57 days—coincidentally, the same day a state inspector arrived for an unannounced inspection.Another defendant, Turkiya Mamdouh Alawad, allegedly collected $14,970 in childcare payments for January 2024 despite border records showing she was outside the United States during that entire month.The DOJ says each defendant received between $538,000 and $1.2 million over periods ranging from months to years. Several allegedly collected more than $1 million, while Abdulrahman Alawad received more than $300,000 in payments in 2025 alone.The defendants were identified as:Fosiya Mohamoud — SomaliaAbdulrahman Alawad — SyriaZetun Abdi — SomaliaIkramullah Mohmmand — AfghanistanKhetam Haouash — SyriaKhatera Hashimi — AfghanistanMariam Khamis — SudanMohamad Alawad — SyriaMazin Alawad — SyriaTurkiya Alawad — SyriaZaryab Daudzai — AfghanistanCezar Yaqoob — IraqAll 12 face wire fraud charges carrying up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Some also face money-laundering counts.San Diego Has Seen This Movie BeforeThis is not the first time San Diego’s subsidized childcare pipeline has been looted by operators tied to the same immigrant networks.In 2023, federal prosecutors charged four San Diego residents connected to the UMI Learning Center in a $3.7 million childcare-benefits scheme built on false work-and-school verifications and kickbacks.The ringleader, Mohamed Muriidi Mohamed, later drew 27 months in federal prison and a $3.7 million restitution order.The Gateway Pundit has also reported ICE’s arrest of an illegal alien, a convicted child sex offender and gang member, found living inside an active San Diego daycare. That is the public-safety overlay Democrats pretend does not exist when the subject is “childcare providers.”And earlier this year, independent journalist Nick Shirley took cameras to California hospices and San Diego daycares and said he documented more than $170 million in suspected fraud, empty buildings, luxury living, and operators who screamed and called police when asked a simple question: where are the children? The Gateway Pundit covered that video here and here.California Democrats answered Shirley’s reporting the way they always do. They did not clean the books. They advanced the so-called “Stop Nick Shirley Act” to treat investigative journalism aimed at immigrant-run service centers as “harassment.” The Gateway Pundit reported that power grab here and here.Today’s indictment is the federal government’s reply to the activists who spent months calling empty-facility footage “racism.”The post 12 Foreign-Born Operators From Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan Charged in $10 Million San Diego ‘Ghost Daycare’ Scam — Kids Only Showed Up When the Inspector Did appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.