The Trump administration is giving YouTuber Nick Shirley $10,000 and launching a $25 million bounty program that invites members of the public to report fraud.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance announced both on October 20, 2026. Shirley, a right-wing YouTuber, was in the Oval Office as Trump spoke.
The payment traces back to a video Shirley published in December 2025. It alleged fraud at Minnesota daycares operated by members of the local Somali community. His method was simple: he lingered in parking lots, asked to go inside childcare centers, and took each refusal as evidence that the centers were not caring for children. The video went viral and set off a massive governmental response that involved federal immigration agents.
The two announcements arrive as a package, which is the notable part. A cash award for one creator now sits next to a much larger program open to anyone. The $10,000 is 0.04% of the $25 million, so the smaller figure works more as a signal than as a budget line.
The evidence in the original video is thin. Childcare centers routinely limit who can walk in, since the children are the reason, so a turned-away visitor with a camera shows very little on its own. The $10,000 goes to the creator of a video built on exactly that kind of proof.
That leaves a practical question for the $25 million program: what counts as a tip worth paying for? If a refusal at the door earns a reward in one case, the standard for the next claim is an open matter.