MINNEAPOLIS — The political awakening of Minnesota’s Somali community poses a conundrum for the DFL party. While Somali-Americans overwhelmingly vote Democratic, many appear to disagree with the party when it comes to gay rights.
That tension was on display Sunday, as the party considered a dispute between a Somali city council candidate and the openly gay incumbent he’s running against.
At the meeting, the party’s Constitution, Bylaws and Rules Committee upheld the party’s endorsement of Abdi Warsame, who’s running for a seat on the Minneapolis City Council.
That seat is currently held by Robert Lilligren, who’s been on the council nearly a dozen years. But Lilligren lost the DFL endorsement this year to Warsame after hundreds of Somali-Americans turned out at precinct caucuses in April, and came back to the party’s convention, giving Warsame overwhelming support. [We told you about the convention here.—-ed]
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All 13 City Council wards in Minneapolis were redrawn last year as part of the post-census redistricting, and Lilligren’s ward changed substantially.Somali activists, led by Warsame, lobbied to have the borders moved so that as many East African voters as possible could be concentrated there.
I told you yesterday that sentencing was about to commence for the refugees who went back to Somalia to join al-Shabab, the al-Qaida affiliate in East Africa. I hadn’t planned to write anymore about it, partly because I am sick of it! We gave these people the ‘good life’ at great expense to the US taxpayer and they threw it back in our faces. But, this part of a long story on the sentencing from the Twin Cities Pioneer Press (hat tip: Cliff) was worth mentioning.
Kamal Said Hassan
The Judge wonders whether this Somali, Kamal Said Hassan, might still be lying:
Each man told Davis his story, and the judge seemed to react differently to each. In the case of Hassan, the judge acknowledged that while the defendant had been an “extraordinary” help to investigators since his arrest, he didn’t know if the words he was hearing were a performance.
“I can’t take back what I did, but I can show you, the government, the Somali community, that I can do better,” Hassan told the judge.
“I know what I did was wrong and illegal and I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said. “I’m sorry to the ones I hurt.”
He apologized to his family, his adopted homeland and his fellow Somali immigrants.
“I want the American people to know I am very sorry for what I did,” he said.
When he finished speaking, Davis paused for several moments.
Finally, he spoke. “I heard a lot of sorrys,” the judge said. “And as you well know, I grilled you on the witness stand when you testified (against Omar). Your talk here has reared that ugly head, in my mind … where we have people who are very, very bright and can be very, very dangerous.”
The judge noted Hassan had been deceitful to his own family and had even not been fully truthful with the FBI when they questioned him; prosecutors even added a charge of making false statements to his two counts of providing material support to al-Shabaab.
The judge said he had to ask himself, “Why aren’t you lying today? I have no indicia that you’re not.”
About the photo: I found it here with a brief background on Hassan. I had not seen this website, Global Jihad, before but it looks like it might be useful going forward.
Here we go again! Call it politics African Muslim style!
Shariah creep: Men sat on left, women on right in Caucus earlier this month in America! Photo: Jeff Wheeler – Star Tribune
Read this surprisingly frank ‘investigative’ report from the Minneapolis Star Tribuneon the latest city political caucus in a precinct now heavily Somali-populated. We reported on an earlier caucus meeting here ten days ago. Is the Star Tribune beginning to see the light? Hat tip: Randy
Hundreds of East African immigrants cheered and waved when Minneapolis City Council candidate Abdi Warsame took the microphone last week at a DFL caucus across from Riverside Plaza. Shoppers congratulated him as he walked through a Somali mall a few days later, past the bright scarves and carpets for sale.
On the surface, it is a happy tale: the city’s Somalis, denied democracy in their homeland, uniting to elect one of their own to the council.
But the Sixth Ward’s two other campaigns tell a darker story of political hardball, and have filed challenges to the caucuses after complaining to DFL leaders that Warsame’s supporters harassed and intimidated attendees.
Keep reading!
Meeting broke for Muslim prayers and most discussion was in Somali—and you think there is no Shariah law creeping into America?
Caucuses described as chaotic
In interviews by the Star Tribune with the other candidates and seven other caucus attendees, a picture emerged of caucuses marked by chaos and confusion, with some men wearing Warsame buttons purposely or inadvertently intimidating and excluding those from other campaigns. Caucuses broke for Muslim prayer at 8 p.m. — which the DFL had approved ahead of time — prompting some participants who were not Muslim to leave because of the delays. Much of the business was carried out in Somali, which some caucusgoers did not understand.
This reminded me of an old post from way back on September 12th, 2008 where we published a detailed discussion written by a reader (Avi) who described the “quiet Jihad” going on in Minnesota.
Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis? That is the title of one of our top posts almost every daysince I first wrote it on January 21, 2011. Thank the US State Department and three of the nine major federal contractors—Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities (USCCB) and World Relief.
You have one chance this year to tell the State Department what should happen with refugee resettlement in FY2014, please read this and do it!
Causcus attendees who wanted to be elected to the Ward 6 convention raised their hands. No women? Photo: Jeff Wheeler – Star Tribune
Hereis the story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, thanks to Debra (emphasis mine):
The changing face of Minneapolis stood out Tuesday night as thousands of voters met in their neighborhoods to decide who will represent the DFL Party at its conventions this summer.
The meetings are the first test of strength in the race to determine who will succeed Mayor R.T. Rybak, and an early indicator of which City Council races are the most competitive. All 13 council seats are up for grabs, with three entirely open because their occupants are running for mayor.
At neighborhood centers and schools across the city, residents volunteered to be delegates at the city conventions that determine DFL endorsements. Campaigns will spend the next several months trying to sway them, though many expect that the DFL will not endorse anyone in the mayoral race. [DFL (Democratic-farmer-labor party) is the socialist-leaning party in Minnesota—ed]
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Some of the dozens of caucuses had large numbers of East African residents, who voiced enthusiasm for being part of the democratic process. Many candidates gave their speeches in Somali. And motions were made to recess briefly to observe Muslim prayers. Here’s a look at some of the precincts with the most delegates:
‘Take responsibility’
Hundreds of East African immigrants gathered at the Sixth Ward’s third precinct caucus hailed Tuesday’s caucuses as a great day for them to participate in American democracy and possibly elect one of their own to the City Council. The south Minneapolis ward, which some estimate is about 40 percent East African, follows Franklin Avenue and reaches into Cedar-Riverside.
Be sure to read the whole Star Tribune story and note the shocking photo showing the women sitting on one side of the room and the men on the other—Shariah Law comes to America! You can thank federal refugee contractors: Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, and World Relief Minnesota for bringing the Sunni Muslims to Minnesota (here).
For new readers: When you type ‘Somalis Minneapolis’into our search function you will find dozens and dozens of posts spanning five years on the problems there. If you plan to write testimony for the State Department hearingnext month, you might use some of those posts as factual sources (they were all written from published news accounts).
We reported this good news here in January, but I see that Minnesota Public Radio has a very good comprehensive piece on the new start-up program here today. And, it kind of fits in with the news about CAIR agitation in Minnesota I reported earlier this a.m.
The MPR article reminds us that the US Supreme Court in 2005 did approve deportations to Somalia even at the time that the country was in total chaos, so now that a new government is in power and al-Shabaab has at least been driven from Mogadishu we can get those jet engines warmed up and load up the planes!
Turkish Air is making daily flights to Mogadishu from US cities!
ST. PAUL, Minn. — As Somalia begins to stabilize, there is a downside for a small number of Somalis who have run afoul of the U.S. immigration system.
For years, Somali immigrants whose deportations were ordered had nowhere to go. There was no functioning government in Somalia to accept them.
In January, the United States recognized the government in Somalia for the first time in more than 20 years, and the U.S. has quietly resumed deportations to Somalia.
The two countries have not restored full diplomatic relations. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement did get enough cooperation last year to begin returning some detainees who have been convicted of serious crimes while in the United States. ICE officials declined to be interviewed for this story, but a spokesperson confirmed that 24 people have been deported from Minnesota and other states so far.
There was no big announcement of the policy change, said Marc Prokosch, an immigration attorney in Bloomington and chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association – Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter. Detainees found out when they were taken into custody after showing up for their regular check-in with immigration.
“It seems that the first wave — if you wanted to call it “wave” since there were only a handful — were people who would be seen as an ongoing threat to public safety, because of, for example the criminal sexual conduct convictions,”Prokosch said. “But we’ve been hearing of non-sexual crime convictions being taken into custody, for example, felony assault.”
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ICE has not publicized its recent deportations or the criteria being used, although it is likely to be a topic at the next quarterly roundtable federal officials hold with the Somali community.
Readers! Help ICE spread the news!
If you are on twitter, please tweet this! And, help me get more followers in order to educate more Americans about Refugee Resettlement!
For new readers: We have resettled more than 100,000 Somali refugees to cities large and small in the US over the last 25 years. See one of the most widely read posts here at RRW. Large numbers went to Minneapolis, and now they are spreading out throughout the state. In three years since 9/11 ( Bush years 2004, 2005, 2006) the number of Somalis arriving topped 10,000 per year. Those refugees then began bringing in the family (chain migration!) until 2008 when shock of shocks! the State Department discovered that as many as 30,000 Somalis had lied about their kinship and weren’t related at all. The State Department then closed the “family reunification” program for Somalis. It has recently been re-opened for new and legit family members, but they have no intention of finding and deporting the liars.
In the first 4 months of this fiscal year (Oct. 1 to January 31) we have resettled 2,260 new Somalis which means we are on target to make 2013 a banner year for Somalis entering the US.
Minneapolis Rep. Keith Ellison is all too happy to oblige and get more money for refugee contractors to bring in more Muslim voters.
