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date:		Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 10:24 AM
subject:		Fwd: FW: We kind and generous Minnesotans

Feds’ relocation of Somali refugees stresses Minn. welfare, raises terror fears


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Women in traditional Muslim dress take part in prayers outside the federal courthouse before a jury found 35-year-old Amina Farah Ali and 64-year-old Hawo Mohamed Hassan guilty on all counts Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, in Minneapolis of conspiring to funnel ... more > <http://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/image/2_242015_minnesota-28201jpg/>
By Kelly Riddell <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/kelly-riddell/>  - The Washington Times - Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The State Department <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-state/>  has helped to relocate tens of thousands of refugees from the war-torn African nation of Somalia <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/somalia/>  to Minnesota, where they can take advantage of some of America’s most generous welfare and charity programs.
But the effort is having the unintended consequence of creating an enclave of immigrants with high unemployment that is both stressing the state’s safety net and creating a rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamist <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/islamist/>  terror groups.
In the fiscal year that ended in September, Minnesota welcomed 1,118 Somali refugees arriving directly from Africa, most of them without family ties to the state, according to State Department <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-state/>  statistics. Overall, more than 30,000 Somalis live in the midwestern state comprising the nation’s largest concentration of Somali immigrants, according to U.S. Census data.
Many of the refugees settle near the Twin Cities, with Minneapolis <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/minneapolis/>  being dubbed “Little Mogadishu” after the capital of Somalia < http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/somalia/> .
This population is also being targeted by Islamist <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/islamist/>  terror organizations like the Islamic State and al-Shabab, a Somalia <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/somalia/> -based group with links to al Qaeda, according to U.S. officials.
Among Minnesota-based Somali-Americans, American converts to Islam or Somali refugees, there have been numerous convictions for various levels of collaboration with Islamist <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/islamist/>  terror groups, plus reports of fighting with al-Shabab or other Islamist <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/islamist/>  groups.
On Sunday, al-Shabab made a propaganda video warning of an attack on shopping malls around the world, including the Mall of America in Minnesota. Al <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/al-franken/> -Shabab claimed responsibility for the terror attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya two years ago, which left 67 dead.
“We have definitely seen targeted terror recruitment videos, videos aimed and targeted directly at the youth here in Minnesota primarily within the Somali community,” said Kyle Loven, an FBI spokesman in Minneapolis <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/minneapolis/> . “They’re going after disaffected youth — those who are isolated. We can’t get into specifics, but we’ve been involved in major investigations since 2007 and continue to be.”
Most of Minnesota’s Somali population started off as legal refugees through a program administered by the U.S. State Department <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-state/>  through the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
Minnesota was selected among the nation’s states for relocation primarily because of its robust entitlement offerings and the number of charitable organizations operating within the state with which the State Department <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-state/>  contracts.
“Minnesota is exceptional in many ways but it’s the closest thing in the United States to a true social democratic state,” said Ahmed Samatar, a professor of international studies at Macalester College, in St. Paul.
“That translates into the way Somali refugees have been received here they’ve been given a secure environment, housing, education, health care, perhaps even some minimum income to sustain them until they can stand on their own feet. That’s all provided by Minnesota,” said Mr. Samatar, who has tracked the State Department <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-state/> ’s refugee program.
Outside Alaska, Minnesota spends more per low-income person on public welfare than any other state in the U.S., according to a report by the Center for the American Experiment, a think tank located in Minneapolis <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/minneapolis/> . The report found Minnesota outspent its average peer state in welfare subsidies by nearly $4,000.
In addition to its generous welfare subsidies, Minnesota also has a number of charitable organizations that contract with the State Department <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-state/>  like Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, and World Relief Minnesota. Those organizations agree to help the Somali refugees learn English, get health care, find housing and gradually learn to adopt the U.S. as home.
The State Department <http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-state/>  didn’t specifically say why Minnesota was selected early in its Somali refugee relocation program only that: “Resettlement locations are chosen for a variety of factors, including communities where a refugee has a family or social tie, where the local resettlement agency has the requisite language skills and social services, and where jobs are available so that refugees can begin the transition to self-sufficiency,” said Larry Bartlett, the U.S. Refugee Admissions program director, in a statement to the Washington Times.
Story Continues → <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/24/islamist-terror-groups-target-minnesota-somali-ref/?page=2>

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