Day: April 1, 2011

More on Native Americans and Somalis trying to get along

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I told you about this issue just a few weeks ago, here, but now I see there is another story on their on-going struggle to co-exist in Minnesota.

From an AP story at the Daily Reporter:

MINNEAPOLIS — Longtime American Indian residents in a poor Minneapolis neighborhood and some of their new neighbors from Somalia are struggling to get along. A handful of alleged attacks against women and elders by young people from both communities haven’t helped.

But some residents, American Indian and Somali, are trying their best to tamp down the violence and learn to live with one another, Minnesota Public Radio reported Wednesday.

Franklin Avenue in the Phillips neighborhood had long been the heart of Indian Country in Minneapolis. But the early 1990s* drew Somali refugees to Phillips in search of cheap rent and storefronts where they could open convenience stores and halal meat shops.

[continued here]

I probably get more questions on the issue I’ve hi-lighted above than on any other issue relating to Somalis—where does the money come from to open all the shops when existing residents couldn’t make a go of shops in the same neighborhood?  My guess is three fold—micro-loans probably through shariah banking to Muslims,  the lucrative food stamp “business” and the money transfer business (money flowing to Africa and the Middle East from the shops).  I’m looking for people to confirm my suspicions!

*For new readers: We have admitted well over 100,000 Somali refugees to the US.   To check out the numbers visit this post, one of our most widely read posts over the last few years.   In FY2010 which ended September 30th the US State Department resettled 4,884 Somalis (here) to towns near you. BTW, this statistics website appears to be not publishing the numbers for 2011.  I wonder why?

Also, after being closed for nearly two years, the US State Department is on the verge of resuming the fraud-ridden family reunification program that admitted as many as 36,000 Somalis fraudulently to the US between 2003 and 2008.  See the latest on new regulations, here.  The State Department is on the verge of re-opening the program and may already have done so

No. Africa, Europe and the Middle East: Refugee roundup

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As the destabilization of Africa and the Middle East continues thanks to “rebels” most likely under the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood (they are not ‘democracy’ advocates in the way Americans are being told), here is a roundup of news this morning:

* Eritreans shot by Egyptian military trying to get into Israel, many imprisoned in Egypt, here.

* Malta asks for “temporary protection” mechanism to be activated by the EU, here.  Catholic agency in Malta trying to raise funds for refugees, here.

* Political turmoil in Syria and Jordan put Iraqi refugees who fled to those countries in danger again, here.

* EU migration head wants European countries to come up with more money for N. African refugees, here.

* Palestinians danced when Mubarak government fell in Egypt because they expect Egypt to now open the border, here (which they of course  hope will be Israel’s undoing).

* Russians say Berlusconi will kick refugees off Italian island of Lampedusa, here.

More later I’m sure…..