Somalians in Minnesota have been in the news a lot.
As someone who has lived in Minnesota my whole life I want to share my perspective.
First we need to separate groups.
A lot of people are saying things like we should deport all Somalians. That is wrong.
Many Somalians were born here or moved here decades ago and they consider themselves American first.
They raise families here, contribute to their communities, and see this country as home.
Treating them as anything less than American is wrong.
With that said there is a different group of Somalians that people in Minnesota talk about privately but are afraid to say out loud.
Starting in the late 2000s and continuing since then, large numbers of Somalians were imported here from Somalia who do not see themselves as American, they identify as Somalian only.
Many do not speak English, many do not work, and many do not support American law and norms.
People who live in Minneapolis or around have seen this.
This group has not been a net positive economically, socially, or culturally.
They have also gained a large amount of political power in a short period of time.
This is why you see Minneapolis politicians speaking Somalian instead of English, and why the Minnesota flag was changed to look almost identical to the Somalian flag.
People in Minnesota are not surprised by the recent fraud stories. The scale is shocking but the behavior itself is not.
Everyone in Minnesota has seen what Minneapolis has become, and it’s sad. Most people in Minnesota don’t say anything about it cause they know they will get in trouble if they do.
This does not mean every Somalian person fits this description, and we should not generalize in totality at all.
But Minneapolis is a fallen city, and anyone who lives in it or around it knows this even though most won’t say it out loud.