WND: More on Minnesota Somalis—welfare and Jihad

World Net Daily writer Leo Hohmann has posted the third in a series of reports on Somalis in Minnesota in the wake of revelations that young Somalis from the refugee community there have gone to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq (and previously to Somalia to fight with Al-Shabaab).  We posted on parts 1 and 2 (here and here).

Changing Minnesota! Political caucus in Minneapolis where Somali men and women sit separately. http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/203321991.html

 

Here are some snips from the article which I suggest you read in its entirety  (Hat tip: Jeannine). Emphasis is mine:

Over the course of two decades, the federal government’s Refugee Resettlement Program has forcibly infused the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota with a large dose of Somali culture, and the transition has not always been smooth.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told WND that while many of the Somali transplants have been hard-working citizens, the experiment has been costly for her state. And too many Somalis remain dependent on public assistance.

Culture of dependency!

“And so tens of thousands of Somalis have been lifted out of a completely different situation and dropped into Minnesota,” Bachmann said. “They have been brought here in many cases by Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services and made homes here, but the problems of radicalization have come to Minnesota as well.”  [Those “charities” are contracted by the US State Department to resettle the refugees.—ed]

While any refugee entering a new country could be expected to need some temporary government aid, Bachmann said problems arise with the culture of dependency that many Somali families have settled into. There have been ongoing issues with radicalization as well, as young Somalis have been targeted by preachers of Islamic jihad, drawing them into foreign terrorist networks such as al-Shabab in Somalia and ISIS in Syria.

Bachmann:  Feds should receive permission to drop refugees into communities.

Bachmann, along with local activists in the state, say the federal government should not resettle refugees into communities without full disclosure of the costs to taxpayers. She believes the feds should also receive permission from elected leaders before dropping refugees into communities.

“I do believe localities and states should have a say in whether refugees come to their community. There was no opportunity to weigh in. When people come from areas of destabilization, the destabilization tends to come in with them,” Bachmann told WND.

Blame it on Ted and Joe (and by the way, Delaware gets only a handful of refugees each year, zero so far in 2014, but it received a whopping 6 refugees in FY 2013, see your state in the “statistical abstract”):

The resettlement program gets its authority from the Refugee Act of 1980, sponsored by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and former Sen. Joe Biden, and is overseen by the U.S. Department of State. The act allows the refugees to become U.S. citizens within five years. Once here, the refugees are allowed to bring in extended family members through the State Department’s Family Reunification program.

Living “in the heart of the beast”:

The charities – Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and World Relief Minnesota – work with money largely provided by federal government grants.

Debra Anderson, a working mother employed in the health-care industry in Minneapolis, said she became concerned two years ago after she bought her house in the northeast quadrant of the city and found out a second mosque was proposed nearby.

“I basically live and work in the heart of the beast, and shortly after I moved in there was a proposal for another mosque in my neighborhood,” said Anderson, who is a member of American Congress for Truth.***

Read on!  There is much much more about Anderson and her community, city and state.

Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis?  See our post from 2011, here.

***The American Congress for Truth will be meeting in Washington this week and we will be there.

Minneapolis to celebrate Somali independence day—July 1

The newly elected Minneapolis City Council member, Abdi Warsame, has been a busy guy lately.  On Friday he presented a resolution to the city council to proclaim July 1 ‘Somali American Day’ to celebrate the African country’s independence from Italy and the UK.   (And we all know how well that worked out!).  Then he lead a protest against Kenya.

MN Governor Mark Dayton congratulates Abdi Warsame.

From Somali Current:

Somalicurrent – The Minneapolis City Council voted Friday to mark July 1 as “Somali American day” in the city, which is home to many immigrants from the east African country.

The date holds significance among Somalis, who celebrate independence day on July 1 both in Somalia and the United States diaspora.

Abdi Warsame, the first Somali-American on the Minneapolis City Council, praised the resolution at a council meeting on Friday. A gathering of Somali-American men were in attendance.

“This is a very important resolution for me,” Warsame said. “And it actually came from the elders and the community leaders who wanted to highlight the contributions, the culture, the values of the Somali-American community, which is a large and growing population in the city of Minneapolis.”

The July 1 independence day commemorates when the Somali Republic was created by uniting two territories previously controlled by Italy and Britain.

Minneapolis Somalis protest against Kenya!

Meanwhile, as we know, Kenya is trying to save itself from Somali terrorists (remember the Westgate Mall slaughter) and Minneapolis Somalis are protesting against Kenya.

And, look who is denying that Somalis had anything to do with the Mall attack—Abdi Warsame—appropriately reported at Al-Shahid network:

Somalis live in Minnesota (USA) protested against Kenyan brutal arresting of Somali community in Nairobi, especially in Eastli village.

With especial interview to voice of America Somali service, Minneapolis council member, Abdi Warsame, who hails from Somalia, has told that hundreds of Somalis in Minnesota marched the streets for showing their refusal of Kenyan indiscriminate harassment against Somalis.

“We can’t bear this twenty first century that our citizens are harassed. I am calling Kenya to stop this brutal action. Somalis are not terrorists. They are not responsible the terrorist attacks in the country”, Abdi Warsame, the first Somali man who hold such post in American territory said.

If Warsame really wanted to help “his country,” he could return to Africa and help Somalia lift itself out of squalor and chaos rather than run his mouth from the safety of Minneapolis!

For new readers,  Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis?  Thank the US State Department and its contractors:  Catholic Charities, Lutheran Immigration Services and World Relief (facilitators of Al-Hijra).

Minnesota: East Africans jumping into American political system

Photo by John Cross: Mustafa Jamale, an aide to U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, speaks Monday at Minnesota State University during a panel talk on political activism in East African communities.

That is the subject of a panel discussion held this week at Minnesota State University.

From Mankato Free Press (emphasis is mine):

MANKATO — For a time, Somalis in Minnesota had something of a suitcase mentality as many wondered if their time here was temporary, said Hashi Shafi of Minneapolis.

For that reason, and because it was something of a foreign concept, many people didn’t participate in American democracy.

“To unpack our suitcases takes time,” said Shafi, director of a civic education nonprofit in Minneapolis.

But unpack they have, as evidenced by the Somalis who are organizing their communities politically.

Shafi and two other East Africa natives visited Minnesota State University Monday for a panel discussion on political activism among Somali and Ethiopian immigrants.

 It is very difficult to find population numbers for Somalis in the US now, so this next bit of information is useful:

There are an estimated 100,000 Somalis and 30,000 Ethiopians in Minnesota.

Read it all by clicking here.

New readers might wish to visit this older post—Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis?—still one of our most-read posts at RRW.   Guess who resettled the Somalis in Minnesota?  If you guessed any one of these, you are right:   US Conference of Catholic Bishops/Catholic Charities, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, and World Relief (evangelicals)!

Minnesota government official: Somalis signing up for Medicaid in big numbers!

Jesson: We are successfully passing their care on to the federal taxpayer!

It’s just a short piece in Voice of Alexandria.

As the Obamacare deadline approaches (whenever that is!), Somalis are signing up in large numbers for Medicaid in Minnesota thus taking the burden of their healthcare off “welcoming” Minnesota and placing it on US taxpayers.

Mosque visits were successful.

(St. Paul, MN) — Officials say efforts to enroll Somali immigrants for health coverage via Medicaid in Minnesota have been largely successful. Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson says with the help of the Somali Health Solutions group, enrollment expectations are being exceeded.

She says they had a goal of enrolling 500 before the end of march and have already enrolled over a thousand and many of them in public programs. Jesson says the outreach efforts have included events at mosques and community centers throughout the state.

She says the high numbers are especially encouraging, because a recent Minnesota Health Access Survey shows that people of color are more likely than whites to be uninsured.

How many Somalis in Minnesota?

For new readers, besides the hundreds/thousands?* of new refugees being resettled in Minnesota each year, in 2012 over 2000 secondary migrants (largely Somalis) went to live in Minnesota.

By the way, this 2011 post is still one of our top posts on most days—how did we get so many Somalis in Minneapolis?

*Until recently we could see the statistics at a US State Department contracted website about how many of which ethnic group were being resettled in every resettlement city and town in America, but the feds have removed from public view those website pages at WRAPSnet.  Heck, I can’t even get on the website anymore!   Your US Senator or Congressman can request those statistics, including the religions of the refugees resettled. 

 

More from Gates of Vienna on still unexplained Minneapolis Somali explosion/fire

And, LOL!, a question for the Minnesota Republican Party?  Do you know who your neighbors are?

MN GOP moved to be in the “middle of every day Minnesotans!”

From GOV (which has continued to investigate the suspicious explosion/fire on New Years Day and might be considered the lead ‘agency’ on the investigation!):

On New Year’s Day 2014 a powerful explosion and fire occurred at 514 Cedar Avenue South in Minneapolis, in a predominantly Somali neighborhood of the city.

The building was gutted by the blaze. Two bodies were found in the rubble, and fourteen people were hospitalized, one of whom died later. Within 72 hours, the building had been pulled down into a heap of rubble by a backhoe.

Two days after the blast, before any real investigation occurred — which could never be conducted, anyway, with the potential crime scene destroyed — Greg Boosalis, the supervisory special agent with the FBI in Minneapolis, told the press that there was “no evidence of terrorist activity”.

Ever since that day I have been asking the question: How did the FBI know there was no terrorist activity without examining the scene of the explosion?

The question becomes even more urgent with the emergence of the latest wrinkle in the case.

Read the incredible paper trail from Europe, to the Middle East, to Somalia and back involving Somali Garad K. Nor.

Then this!  Republicans move into office suite down the hall from Nor’s Tawakal Money Express and the “every day Minnesotans!”

Since being listed as a terrorism-associate by the U.S. Treasury and the European Commission, Garad K. Nor has managed to clear his name. A press release issued in 2012 says the President and CEO of Tawakal Money Express successfully completed a four-day training workshop (teleconferenced from Somalia) for its staff and agents regarding procedures for complying with anti-money laundering regulations in the USA. Tawakal Money Express, a franchise of the Tawakal Express global enterprise, is located at… 2200 E Franklin Ave, #204.

To reiterate: that’s the same location as the offices of Wadani Properties, the company that owned and managed the exploded building at 514 Cedar Avenue South.

As a final irony, the Minnesota Republican Party has just moved its headquarters to the same address, 2200 E Franklin, Suite #201.

Hmmmm!

All of our previous posts on the Somali fire/explosion may be found by clicking here.

Be sure to read ‘Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis’ where a reader tells us about the Seward neighborhood.