Tag: Somali refugees

Somali refugees changing the face of Minneapolis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Causcus attendees who wanted to be elected to the Ward 6 convention raised their hands. No women? Photo: Jeff Wheeler – Star Tribune

Here is 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]

[…..]

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 hearing next month, you might use some of those posts as factual sources (they were all written from published news accounts).

Rep. Keith Ellison: It’s a new day in Somalia; send money

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  Lawlessness and mayhem are back as al-Shabaab attacks the capital—and as our commenters noted earlier.

If it’s a new day and Somalia is on the mend, then WHY ARE WE STILL IMPORTING SOMALI REFUGEES? 

If Somalis from the ‘diaspora’ are traveling back and forth to Somalia to buy real estate and do business, why is the flow of “refugees” still moving Westward?  Should we even be calling them “refugees” anymore?

Rep. Keith Ellison scans the horizon for Somali pirates (just kidding!). Photo: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Editors note:  As of the end of February (5 months into fiscal year 2013) see, here, the US State Department and its contractors have brought 2,814 new Somali “refugees” to the US (read: new Democrat voters and cheap labor)!

In his opinion piece at Insight News, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the go-to guy for the federal refugee contractors, tells readers how great Somalia is doing and how the US needs to send more money to the country. 

Let’s make a deal—send Somalia more money and let them keep their so-called “refugees.”

Ellison (emphasis mine):

It’s a new day in Somalia. That’s the message I took away from a trip to the capital city of Mogadishu earlier this year. We have our best opportunity in more than two decades to help stabilize Somalia and advance U.S. national security interests — but only if we act quickly.

The improved security situation has filled Mogadishu with new life. Somalis can once again play music and dance, activities banned by terrorist group Al-Shabab, which until recently controlled much of the country. Crowds of people fill the streets, socializing and shopping.

Somali-Americans from my district in Minnesota are starting businesses and buying real estate. And a new generation of Somalis from the global diaspora is returning. One of them started Somalia’s first think tank, the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. Another woman left her high-paying job on Wall Street to help build up Somalia’s financial sector from scratch.

These positive developments are largely a result of Somalia’s successful political transition last year. After many failed attempts, Somali leaders completed a process that produced the first representative, permanent government since the fall of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991.

Somalia now has a new constitution, parliament and president. In a strong vote of confidence, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally recognized the new government when President Hassan Sheik Mohamud visited Washington in January. Mohamud also met with President Obama and more than 20 members of Congress.

Nonetheless, Somalia’s new leaders face challenges that would be difficult even for an experienced, well-resourced government. Ministries are nonexistent or understaffed; there is no public education or established banking system; more than a million people are displaced, and security threats remain serious. However, even the pessimists can no longer say that Somalia is hopeless.

The new government is populated with public servants who want Somalia to succeed. President Mohamud made clear at his meeting on Capitol Hill that security is his top priority. His government must quickly move into areas liberated from Al-Shabab and prove that government can be a force for good, not just a source of corruption and oppression. It can do that by providing basic public services, including trash pickup, transportation, education and a functioning judicial system.

The United States has an opportunity to make an investment in Somalia that could pay huge dividends over time.

There is more.

Rep. Keith Ellison still working to keep the river of US money flowing to Somalia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update about the activities of US Rep. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis, thanks to a reader.

In February, Ellison, the go-to guy for the refugee resettlement industry in Congress, traveled to Mogadishu in order to facilitate keeping the remittance pipeline open from Minnesota to Somalia.   As we reported here in January, up to $120 million a month is sent from Minnesota alone to Somalia!

Ellison has been leading the charge to get the federal government to back off of its prohibition on those little mom & pop money transfer businesses sending money to a country that many knew had al-Shabaab terrorists at the other end of the pipeline.

From Minnesota Public Radio last month:

Ellison with new Somali prez Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison visited Somalia’s capital on Tuesday, the first visit in years by a member of Congress to what until recently was considered one of the world’s most dangerous cities.

Ellison, D-Minn., said his visit to Mogadishu fulfills a request from his constituents* with ties to Somalia. Minnesota has one of the largest populations of Somali-Americans in the U.S.

[….]

“I told my constituency I would come here and work for the United States and Somalia relationship, and I am doing that in today’s visit,” Ellison told a news conference in Mogadishu.

[….]

Ellison said his meetings with Somali officials would focus on financial remittances most often sent by Somalis in the U.S. back to family members in Somalia. Such remittances have become harder to make over fears that people sending money could be accused of aiding a terrorist organization such as al-Shabab.

Why don’t lazy reporters put in stories like this one that it’s not just a “fear” that money might end up in the wrong hands, but we have had recent CONVICTIONS of Somalis sending money to al-Shabaab.  There are those two (go to hell infidels) women in Minnesota here and then the San Diego Somalis here.  It is not a “fear” that it might happen.  It has happened.

Besides, why should we be allowing immigrants of all sorts to be sending the US treasury to prop-up the third world—that is exactly what we are doing even if there aren’t potential terrorists at the receiving end.  See El Salvador, here.

*For new readers who might be wondering how Ellison got all those Somali constituents, thank the US State Department and its nine major federal refugee resettlement contractors.  More Somalis on the way!

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.   Never mind that Somalia’s new President is urging Somalis to “come home.”

For more information on Rep. Keith Ellison, click here, for our whole archive.

Minneapolis Somalis venting after student riot; and what did St.Valentine’s Day have to do with it?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

No surprise that the Somali refugee “community” would blame everyone else but themselves for the riot that broke out in a high school cafeteria, here, last week when tensions boiled over between Blacks and the Somalis (also black).

Here is the Minneapolis Star Tribune with the standard whiny blame game report—it’s all about police brutality and cultural misunderstanding don’t you know.

Frustration with South High School and Minneapolis police handling of an altercation there last week continues to run high among some students and parents of Somali descent.

Several parents spoke in indignant terms Tuesday about how they believed police had used excessive force while subduing the Thursday melee that involved several hundred students.

Instead of taking their grievances to the Police Department, they held a press conference FIRST!   More cultural competence needed at South High, according to community organizer now school board member Hussein Samatar.

Their comments followed a news conference where school board member Hussein Samatar, called for more efforts to keep students safe in school, improvements in the cultural competence of South staff members and more support for students enrolled in rigorous classes.

On Tuesday afternoon, a police spokesman said the department hadn’t received any complaints about the incident, but later Chief Janeé Harteau said she would investigate the concerns.

“I have requested and opened an internal review of the incident,” Harteau said. “We value the strong relationships we have built with the Somali community, and I take any allegation that threatens that in anyway very seriously.”

[How high did you want us to jump Mr. Samatar? Sir!—ed]

Valentine’s Day?

St. Valentine a symbol of evil for Muslims

Then this comment from South’s Principal is curious!

South Principal Cecilia Sadler also spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time about the incident. She said “some fights that escalated in our lunchroom were not able to be dispersed quickly” and grew. She said Valentine Day heightened student emotions.

What!  There was too much love in the air?  Do any of you remember riots on Valentine’s Day when you were in school because so many students had the ‘love jones’ and were emotional that day?

Nah!  Too much evil according to Islamic teaching.

Yes, Muslims are forbidden from celebrating or taking part in any way in St. Valentine’s Day festivities.    I don’t know if there was any connection with the riot to the Islamic prohibition against Valentine’s Day, but I bet you a buck there was and everyone is too chicken to say it (except for Principal Sadler’s oblique reference).

Here is Islam Q & A on Fatwa No 73007:

What is the ruling on Valentine’s Day?

Firstly:

Valentine’s Day is a jaahili Roman festival, which continued to be celebrated until after the Romans became Christian. This festival became connected with the saint known as Valentine who was sentenced to death on 14 February 270 CE. The kuffaar still celebrate this festival, during which immorality and evil are practised widely.   [You are a kuffaar, if you are not a Muslim—ed]

Secondly:

It is not permissible for a Muslim to celebrate any of the festivals of the kuffaar, because festivals come under the heading of shar’i issues which are to be based on the sound texts.

[….]

Partially joining in, at the very least, is disobedience and sin.

[….]

As for the festival and its rituals, this is part of the religion which is cursed along with its followers [Christians are cursed!  Get it!—ed], so joining in with it is joining in with something that is a cause of incurring the wrath and punishment of Allaah.

Watch for it!  Readers (especially those in Minneapolis!) let me know if thanks to this St. Valentine’s spontaneous “riot” Mr. Samatar and the school board ban Valentine’s Day activities next year.  That is the stealth Jihad, that is how Shariah creeps into America!  And, heck, maybe it isn’t even spontaneous or creeping!

San Diego Somalis thinking about going “home” to Somalia!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Obama meets with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the White House in January.

A few weeks ago we reported that the new Somali President (Hassan Sheikh Mohamud) had come to the US, stopped in with Obama and later Hillary Clinton before going on to Minneapolis where he exhorted his fellow Somalis of the “diaspora” to come on back to Africa.

Now, here is a story that Somalis in the City Heights section of San Diego, where there is (incidentally) a Somali terror-funding trial going on, are contemplating a return.  And, not only that, but they have been back and forth already.

So this is my fundamental question, if Somalis are traveling safely back and forth to Mogadishu, why are we still bringing in Somalis by the thousands to the US?

Here are the stats for this fiscal year (2013) that began on October 1, 2012.  In those four months, we have brought in 2,260 “refugees” from Somalia at a time when the country is considered safe enough for American Somalis to fly back and forth.  By the way, in all of Fiscal Year 2011 (when Al-shabaab was at its height) we brought 3,161 Somalis (all year!), so if we continue the pace of the previous 4 months of this fiscal year (when Somalia is safer) we will bring over 6,000!  Does that make any sense?

We will pay “church” contractors to resettle them, feed and house them, and educate the kids through college (disrupt communities!).

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to leave them in Africa and help them get Somalia functioning?

Also, remember that countries like Denmark are contemplating refusing Somali asylum seekers because they say Somalia is no longer a complete hell hole, here.

Here is the story from KPBS in San Diego:

The United States officially recognized the Somali government last month for the first time since 1991, alerting Somali refugees in City Heights and throughout the world their homeland is making a comeback.

Somalia has been called “the world’s most failed state,” enduring deadly famines and more than two decades of civil war with al Shabaab militants linked to al Qaeda.

The nation is rebuilding under a newly elected president, who recently urged refugees at a speech in Minnesota, home to the nation’s largest population of Somali refugees, to return to Somalia to help.

But will Somalis who have spent more than 20 years away – some even beginning life outside of their family’s homeland – make the move to Africa?

“The conversation, it’s already among the community,” said Mohamed Ahmed, a 23-year-old Somali living in City Heights. “People have already been back. People are planning to go back. And some people are a bit skeptical about going back and they’re not really comfortable about the situation back home.”

Ahmed left Somalia with his family when he was two months old and came to the U.S. at age of 4. He’s about to graduate from San Diego State University, alongside other East Africans who arrived in America in the 1990s.

He says the timing for a revived Somali state couldn’t be better. Many members of the Somali diaspora are poised to graduate from American and European universities, if they haven’t already.

Ahmed said Somalis who grew up in Europe are returning to work in their native country – at a rate of about 1,000 per month, according to some reports. Flights in and out of Mogadishu have multiplied. Rent has climbed. Last year, young Somali professionals hosted a TEDxMogadishu talk.

Nah!  Not so fast!  Few will go “home.”

Abdi Mohamoud, executive director of Horn of Africa, a San Diego nonprofit that provides support for local East African refugees, said Ahmed’s drive is common among children of refugees.

“With the tragedy of having so many refugees flee from Somalia, the advantage has become that many of those refugees went to other developed countries and many of them were able to get very high-quality educations,” Mohamoud said. “They’re very eager to try to improve the devastation that their parents have fled.”

But Mohamoud said he’s not convinced many young Somalis will actually make the move to Africa.

Mohamoud went on to say that he predicted 95% would stay in the US.

Remittances!  Another word for the “redistribution” of wealth!

The KPBS report also notes this extra cost to the US economy—the same one we reported here regarding El Salvador!

And Somalia’s economy has a long way to go. Currently, remittances from Somali families in City Heights and throughout the world account for about half the nation’s gross domestic product.