Ohio State Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Township, told Newsmax on Thursday he wants an investigation into child care centers in his state.
Williams and 40 of his colleagues sent a letter to the Ohio Department of Children and Youth calling for unannounced inspections and an audit of Columbus day cares, following reports of fraud at day care centers in Minneapolis.
"We've had widespread reporting that there's potential fraud here in the state of Ohio, particularly in the Columbus area, where we have the second largest Somali population in the country," Williams said on "Greg Kelly Reports."
"And we've seen irregularities similar to what we saw in Minnesota, where you have these day care centers that are vacant or children are not present."
Williams, who is running for Congress in Ohio's 9th Congressional District, said efforts to ensure attendance at child care centers have been hindered by a lack of compliance.
"We have over 5,000 child care providers across the state. We annually only have to do one inspection of each facility," Williams said.
"But we are introducing legislation not only to increase the oversight of these facilities on a daily basis, but also to increase the punishment when an individual is caught committing fraud and using taxpayer dollars to do so."
Williams said taxpayers deserve better oversight and tougher penalties, "especially for illegal immigrants that are here committing these heinous crimes in our community."
Many child care facilities will not allow a child to enroll unless the family is part of the Somali community, Williams said.
"One area of concern that I've seen from these videos is many of these individuals who are child care workers presumably don't even speak proficient English," he said.
"How are they getting children ready for kindergarten if they can't even speak the language that the kids are going to be tested on? That's why we see failing schools in the Columbus area," Williams continued.
"That's why we're seeing rampant crime in that community, because kids are not prepared to chase the American dream because they're not even getting qualified education at the child care facilities inside their own communities."
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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