Univision was among the first broadcast networks to report on the latest massive welfare fraud scandal engulfing Minnesota. Unfortunately, the morning brief provided little in the way of details and massively smeared FBI Director Kash Patel.
Watch the brief in its entirety, as aired on Univision’s Despierta América on Monday, December 29th, 2025:
ANTI-NEWS: @UniNoticias smears @FBIDirectorKash, accusing him of targeting Somalis while avoiding any mention of the specifics of the latest massive MN fraud scandal pic.twitter.com/3zKtKlPX7Z
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) December 29, 2025
MARIA ANTONIETA COLLINS: In other news, the FBI is currently investigating a fraud scheme in Minnesota involving millions of dollars intended for social services. This was confirmed by the agency's director, Kash Patel, who also clarified that they have focused primarily on Somali immigrants in the state. Activists accuse the administration of using the fraud investigations as a pretext to pressure immigrants of that nationality.
That’s it. That was the brief. While greater, in substance, than anything aired on the other broadcast networks, the brief lacked any of the details reported by independent journalist Nick Shirley. There was no telling viewers about the billions of dollars diverted to day care centers with all manner of violations and with dubious enrollments.
Instead, the report claimed that Patel “clarified (the FBI) focused on Somali immigrants in the state.” The thing is, Patel never said that. Here’s his statement subsequent to the Shirley report:
CASE UPDATE: MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEME
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) December 28, 2025
The FBI is aware of recent social media reports in Minnesota. However, even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes…
There is nothing in that statement that specifically targets the Somali community for law enforcement action. There isn’t anything in any of Patel’s statements on Minnesota fraud that suggests specific Somali targeting. So how does such a line clear what should be layers of editing and fact-checking and ultimately make it to the teleprompter? In all likelihood, newsroom writers simply gleaned off of multiple other headlines that breathlessly (and also falsely) claimed Patel was targeting the Somalis. In other words, Univision’s viewers were fed pure slop.
This story presented itself as a test that Univision failed. Here is an immigrant crime story that does not involve or threaten the network's viewer base, and can therefore be more easily reported fairly and accurately. But Univision fell back on its historic immigration biases, shifting to an advocacy frame rather than reporting on the massive scandal unfolding in Minnesota. What happens if similar fraud is uncovered in, say, New York or California? What does Univision do then?
The story confirms yet again what studies have found, which is that voters who depend on Spanish-language TV for their news are among the most disinformed. And we are reminded of the massive reforms that need to take place before the media can regain the public’s trust- in any language.
