DeWine pushes back against investigations into childcare centers, says people are not supposed to enter facilities

Gov. Mike DeWine defended Ohio’s daycare centers during a Monday press conference, criticizing people who chose to conduct their own investigations into the alleged Somali daycare fraud in the Buckeye State.

DeWine specifically criticized people attempting to enter the facilities, saying that “there is a good reason why they are not getting into these facilities.”

“To protect children in these daycare centers, Ohio requires facilities to have safety and security plans in place. They have these plans in place so that an adult cannot just walk into a facility without an appointment or without a child to pick up or drop off. That is there to protect the children,” DeWine said during the press conference.

He then added that the only other way to enter the facility is to work there.

“If you aren’t working there, or you’re not cleared to volunteer, you can’t be there,” DeWine said. “That’s what the law is. It’s a good law.”

He also pointed out that everyone working or volunteering at these centers must undergo extensive background checks by federal and state authorities.

“In fact, adults working or even volunteering in a child care center must undergo FBI and BCI background checks, state and national sex offender checks, and a child abuse and neglect check,” DeWine said.

DeWine’s office did not invite Ohio.News to attend the press conference.

During a question-and-answer session with the media in attendance, DeWine said once again that “there shouldn’t be a shock when you see something on social media, and someone is going, ‘I can’t get into this (facility), no one will let me in.’”

“Well, hell no, no one should let them in,” he said.

The governor also criticized people who automatically assume that there is fraud in Ohio because, just like in Minnesota, the state has a massive population of Somali immigrants.

“There has been some connection I’ve seen on social media from people who say, ‘Well, there’s a lot of Somalis in Ohio, too. There are in Minnesota. Therefore, Ohio probably has a huge problem,’” he said. “I don’t think that’s fair.”

Even though he admitted that there were some Somali immigrants involved in childcare fraud, he pointed out that there were other people involved as well, adding that, instead of concentrating on Somali immigrants or any other group of people, his administration will try to prevent and stop any kind of fraud, no matter who commits it.

The press conference took place after DeWine released a statement on anti-fraud measures for Ohio taxpayer-funded daycare centers, once again defending them.

Before the statement was released, DeWine’s spokesperson Dan Tierney said that fraud “is something that is unfortunately the cost of doing business.”

“If people are out there who could not contemplate that people were trying to defraud the public through day care centers, I understand it’s new to them … but it’s been known to the state for decades,” he said. “So therefore, we have robust anti-fraud measures to try and stop this; this is something that is unfortunately the cost of doing business.”