US raid on Somalia: Al-Shabab recruitment puts Minneapolis-St. Paul's Somali community under scrutiny

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Minnesotans embrace Somali refugees

At first this emigration was a result of joint efforts between local church congregations, refugee resettlement agencies and the U.S. government, but over time Somalis have come to find their way to Minnesota on their own. The state has one of the highest “secondary resettlement” rates of anywhere in the country, meaning that if a Somali man or woman immigrates to a city like New York, it’s thought to only be a matter of time before he or she relocates to Minnesota. The impetus may be family reunification, or simply the desire to belong to a community that more closely resembles home.

“It’s by what I call the ‘cold hands, warm heart’ theory,” says Kim Dettmer, director of refugee services at Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSSMN), one of the organizations most instrumental in bringing Somali refugees to the state. “Of course, there’s some tension in the community, but I think Minnesota is exceptional in terms of being a welcoming place for refugees. We’ve done it for a long time.”

The LSSMN has been helping refugees resettle in Minnesota since World War II. In addition to its Somali presence, the state is also home to one of America’s largest Hmong populations, an ethnic group native to China and Southeast Asia. Still, Dettmer says when the LSSMN decided to open up a new office in nearby St. Cloud, the organization received angry phone calls from citizens expressing their displeasure with the growing Somali community.

Some hostility towards immigrants persists

As accepting as Minnesota may be, there will always be those who exhibit hostility towards immigrants. Now, with the media attention surrounding al-Shabaab, and reports that some 12 to 20 young Somali men from Minnesota are among their ranks, the community is fearful of strained tensions and added profiling.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) has already started to see some of the backlash take shape. “Are there concerns about [Somalis] being profiled and being blamed by people who don’t really understand the dynamic? You know, the reality is, that does come up. It’s been preached lately, implying that the whole community is somehow to blame,” he says. “The bottom line is that al-Shabaab has a predatory relationship with the Somali community. The Somali community doesn’t apologize for these people and doesn’t accept them — they reject them.”

Al-Shabaab, which means “The Youth” in Arabic, is a Somalia-based Islamist terrorist cell. With confirmed ties to al-Qaeda, in recent years, the group has been successful in recruiting young Somali-American men fresh out of high school by preaching a dogma of national identity, ethnic responsibility, and religious extremism.

“There are some people who kind of look upon [al-Shabaab] with some admiration, because these guys are hardcore and they have military experience, and there’s a certain appeal in that,” says Evan Kohlmann, NBC News terror analyst and expert witness on several al-Shabaab cases, including that concerning the Minneapolis al-Shabaab cell. “They have a certain charisma. And I suppose it’s probably the same charisma that makes some Somali young men also join gangs — Somali gangs — in Minneapolis.”

Terrorists preying on Somali youth

Kohlmann and community leaders, however, believe al-Shabaab is simply preying on the vulnerability of alienated young men for their own political and military gains.

“You might not be able to guarantee that there will never be another recruitment effort, but you can certainly put a lot of pressure on it and reduce the likelihood,” says Rep. Ellison, who visited Somalia in February to meet with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and the mayor of Mogadishu.

“The number one thing you can do is invest in youth. We shouldn’t have a bunch of Somali kids hanging out on the corner with nothing to do, and no jobs, and nowhere to go.”

American problem of male alienation

In this way, the issue of al-Shabaab recruitment is not necessarily just a Somali problem, or a Muslim problem, or even a Minnesotan problem. This is an American problem, experts say, a parallel to the mass shootings and gang violence that plague our society as expressions of alienated young men.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the FBI confirmed that “at least 22 young men have traveled to Somalia since 2007 to join al-Shabab.”

“It’s not that Somalis are a danger to America, it’s that al-Shabaab is a hateful, pernicious terrorist organization that tries to recruit on the basis of young people feeling alienated and distanced,” says Rep. Ellison. “We’ve got to have institutions that make young people feel connected.”

Follow Jackson Connor on Twitter @JacksonMConnor