How Minnesota turned a hub for Somali immigrants within the U.S. : NPR

Minnesota boasts the biggest inhabitants of Somalis within the U.S. — a neighborhood that is not too long ago confronted assaults from President Trump.

On Tuesday, Trump referred to as Somali immigrants “rubbish” and mentioned he wished to ship them “again to the place they got here from.” He continued on Wednesday, saying, “they’ve destroyed our nation and all they do is complain, complain, complain.”

The tirade got here lower than two weeks after Trump threatened to strip momentary authorized protections from Somali migrants dwelling in Minnesota.

Trump and different conservatives have additionally not too long ago seized on legal investigations and information experiences of fraud in Minnesota’s social providers system — a few of which was allegedly dedicated by Somalis — to disparage the whole neighborhood.

Now, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to goal Minnesota and its Somali inhabitants in an upcoming immigration enforcement operation, The Related Press and different shops reported this week.

Practically 80,000 individuals of Somali descent at present stay in Minnesota, roughly 78% of whom reside within the Twin Cities, in keeping with the St. Paul-based group Wilder Analysis.

But it surely did not start with the Twin Cities. Fairly, a few of the first Somali immigrants to enter the U.S. within the late Nineties got here to a city referred to as Marshall, about 150 miles west of Minneapolis, in keeping with Minnesota writer Ahmed Ismail Yusuf, who wrote the e-book Somalis in Minnesota.

Somalia on the time was gripped by a civil struggle that precipitated a whole lot of hundreds of individuals to flee the nation positioned within the Horn of Africa, and a few of those that got here to the U.S. discovered work at a Marshall meat-packing plant. As phrase obtained out about work alternatives in Marshall, different Somali refugees arrived within the area and obtained jobs within the hospitality business, as taxi drivers and extra, Yusuf mentioned, forming a large Somali neighborhood in and across the Twin Cities.

“These individuals who have been employed, they introduced their households. And after they introduced their households with them, their households in fact introduced their youngsters with them,” he mentioned.

The Somali refugees who settled in Minneapolis and St. Paul have been additionally attracted by the truth that Minnesota was recognized for martisoor, which interprets to “hospitality” in Somali. Yusuf mentioned the state’s “liberal angle and social habits” mirrored the immigrants’ personal values.

For some Somali refugees, the transition to dwelling in Minnesota hasn’t been completely easy. Some spiritual Somalis have confronted obstacles in practising their Islamic religion, which may contain praying a number of occasions per day and the sporting of a hijab for Muslim ladies, in keeping with the Minnesota Historic Society.

The society mentioned the Somali inhabitants has additionally struggled to beat its affiliation with Islamic extremism, after the neighborhood turned a recruiting goal for ISIS over a decade in the past.

Nonetheless, Yusuf mentioned the Somali inhabitants has continued to develop in Minnesota and discover methods to present again. “Proper now, wherever you go, nonetheless we’re serving the individuals, we’re serving the neighborhood, we’re serving the state,” he mentioned.

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who fled Somalia as a toddler and got here to the U.S. as a refugee, in 2018 turned the primary Somali American elected to Congress.

Trump mentioned on Wednesday that Omar “should not be allowed to be a congresswoman, and I am positive individuals are that. And he or she ought to be thrown the hell out of our nation.”

Omar mentioned in a Tuesday social media publish in response to Trump’s earlier feedback: “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he will get the assistance he desperately wants.”

She was certainly one of 4 congresswomen who Trump mentioned in a 2019 tweet ought to “return and assist repair the completely damaged and crime infested locations from which they got here.” At a rally shortly after his tweet about Omar, Trump paused whereas some members of the gang chanted: “Ship her again.”

Yusuf mentioned the Somali neighborhood is now “a bit beneath siege” by the Trump administration, however he famous that it additionally has the help of metropolis leaders within the Twin Cities, together with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter.

“We’re coping with this,” Yusuf mentioned, “however we aren’t coping with it alone.”