Over the past weeks, what we have witnessed in Minnesota is not policy — it is persecution. The returned offensive by President Donald Trump and the weaponized state apparatus of DHS and the Justice Department against the Somali community — and against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar — is nothing short of a legalized campaign of demonization. Calling entire families “garbage,” demanding they “go back,” and planning sweeps of immigrant communities bears all the ugly fingerprints of racial scapegoating.
In Minnesota, the Somali-American population is among the largest in the country. Their long migration here — many as refugees fleeing war and chaos — has transformed into economic, social, and civic engagement. Somali Minnesotans own businesses, work in essential jobs, and help build communities across the Twin Cities region. Generations of Somali Americans live, work and raise families in neighborhoods around St. Paul and Minneapolis. According to recent reporting, nearly 58 percent of Somalis in Minnesota were born here — and of foreign-born Somali Minnesotans, 87 percent are now naturalized U.S. citizens.
Across the nation, immigrants account for more than 50 million people as of 2025 — roughly 15.4% of the U.S. population according to the Pew Research Center. But no matter the origin — whether from Somalia, Latin America, Africa or Middle East — immigrants enrich this country: workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers, neighbors. And research confirms immigrants do not commit more crimes than native-born Americans; in fact, areas with growing immigrant populations often see declines in violent and property crime.
So why target Somalis? The logic is chillingly familiar: demonize a whole people, reduce them to “vermin,” criminalize their very presence. It echoes propaganda out of the darkest chapters of history — where entire groups were condemned with vile labels before being rounded up, stripped of rights, victimized. It is racism — plain and simple. I would hope to see the Jewish community coalesce as they fore parents were subject to this manner of subjugation and categorization that was preface to the holocaust.
Even more troubling is the near-silence from those who claim to stand for justice — from feminist groups and faith-based congregations, from Christians and progressives who watch these attacks unfold and say nothing. I have spent time worshiping, breaking bread, praying with Somali brothers and sisters in mosques and restaurants around Minneapolis. I have seen first-hand their dignity, their hustle, their care for neighbors. They embody compassion, hard work, communal love.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If we remain silent now — when Somali families are told they do not belong, when Congresswoman Omar is attacked for her faith and origin — we betray our own claim to moral conscience.
I stand with Ilhan Omar. I stand with the Somali community. I stand with every family facing hate, exclusion, and state–sanctioned fear. This is America — a house with many rooms. When one room burns, the whole house cries out. We must not let cowardice wrapped in the American flag drown out decency, justice, or humanity.
