Minnesota
Bloomington father of three killed in terror attack in Somalia
Published
4 weeks agoon
Ahmed AbdiKarin Eyow was among several hundred people killed when a truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded in a busy part of Mogadishu. The blast is the deadliest single terrorist attack in the East African nation’s history.
A Bloomington father who aspired to work for the United Nations and rebuild his homeland of Somalia was visiting the country’s capital city Saturday when a terrorist attack took his life.
Ahmed AbdiKarin Eyow was among several hundred people killed when a truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded in a busy part of Mogadishu. The blast is the deadliest single terrorist attack in the East African nation’s history.
Eyow, 50, who was on a short trip to Kenya and Somalia, was in his hotel room when the blast went off, Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR-MN, said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
“We here in Minnesota know we have lost a great community activist and leader,” Hussein told the crowd of about 40 people at Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. “Terrorism has no faith, and terrorism is a threat to all of us.”
Eyow, a welder who recently received his bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State University and was working on his master’s degree, leaves behind a wife and three children.
An active member of Dar Al Farooq and the community, Eyow was remembered as a family man who loved both the United States and Somalia. Eyow fled Somalia as a refugee after the government collapsed in the early 1990s, and later settled in Minnesota.
Ads By Google
“He was a great father,” said Bashir Eyow, his brother. “I’m very, very sad today.”
Ruun Abdi said her husband worked two jobs and was the family’s sole breadwinner. She said he had a future in politics.
“My husband, he was a great man,” Abdi said. “He loved America so much.”
Even while on his latest trip to Somalia, she said, her husband was checking on his kids’ grades and homework assignments and reminding her about parent-teacher conferences.
Hussein said Eyow was visiting family and exploring possible job options on this trip.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but Somalia’s government has blamed the Al-Shabab extremist group.
The truck filled with explosives was being followed by Somali security forces when it exploded. It may not have reached its final destination yet, Hussein said.
At least one other American was killed in the explosion, Hussein said. More people may be found injured or killed in the rubble, he said, and local community members are still waiting for news about their family members and friends.
“It has been nerve-racking — many people still don’t know if their loved ones are OK,” he said. “It’s still an unfolding situation.”
Mohamed Omar, executive director of Dar Al Farooq, said a community event will be held next Sunday to support Ahmed Eyow’s family, which includes his wife, his daughter, Yusra Eyow, 13, and sons Yonis, 14, and Yahya, 10. It will be at 4:30 p.m. at Dar Al Farooq.
“Ahmed was one of our most effective and active community members,” Omar said. “He used to come daily here, him and his kids.”
A GoFundMe page to help the family has been set up atgofundme.com/ahmed-abdikarin-eyow.
Mohamed Mohamoud, 14, said he is best friends with Yonis Eyow, Ahmed Eyow’s son. He played basketball and soccer with them, Mohamoud said.
“He was always happy,” Mohamoud said about Ahmed. “He was always around.”
You may like
-
US asks Amisom troops to stay on in Somalia, pledges support
-
U.S. Conducts Airstrike in Support of the Federal Government of Somalia
-
U.S. and Somali Strikes on Shabab Said to Kill Nearly 100 Militants
-
Comprehensive approach to security in Somalia discussed today in Mogadishu
-
US kills ‘several militants’ in Somalia air strike
-
Partnering with Somalia’s Police to Build Counterterrorism Capacity
MINNEAPOLIS – In the mid to late 1990’s, Minneapolis become home to thousands of Somali refugees.
We now have the largest population in the United States.
And today, on Election Day, we were shown something absolutely remarkable about our Somali community in Minneapolis’ Ward 6.
They voted early at seven times the rate of other areas in the city.
As first and second generation immigrants they are taking their civic duty to a record-breaking level.
Ali Isse has been getting out the vote early in Ward 6 and his response to this?
“It’s just a normal campaign. (We are) just working a little bit harder,” Isse said with a shrug.
That’s a humbling way to describe it but the reality is too important to not say out loud. These Somali Americans hold a passion to vote because they know, more than many of us born in the U.S. know what it means to be able to do so.
“This is one of our dreams you know, the reason that we are here because we never had a good democratic system and once you get one you will enjoy it and that’s why people are eager and happy to go out and make sure their voices are heard,” Isse said.
It’s simply beautiful really. To watch a community embrace democracy that way. Especially when that community hasn’t been as embraced by the American community.
“A lot of times we are a stereotyped like, oh Somalis they can’t integrate or they can’t get along with other people but that’s not true and this is one of the ways we can prove you know hey we just like everybody else,” Isse said.
Well, in this way, not even in the slightest with these kinds of voting numbers.
And to be specific to Ward 6, look at the city council race they are voting ON. A race with three Somali candidates.
“Even though we are still first and second generation here generally our community is very active in terms of what is going around on local and national level and there are a lot of issues now in terms of the immigrant refugees and all kind of things,” Isse said.
It’s a classic American idea. If you don’t like the way the system works, do two things. Vote. And. Run.
“We’d rather have more on the ballot than not and that’s something we are really proud about,” Isse said.
Minnesota
U.S. finds four Minnesotans from Somalia used false IDs to gain citizenship
Published
5 days agoon
Nov 07, 2017The U.S. Justice Department on Monday sought to revoke the citizenship of four Minnesotans from Somalia who are accused of defrauding the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program more than a decade ago.
According to four civil complaints filed by Washington, D.C.-based Justice Department attorneys, Fosia Abdi Adan, Ahmed Mohamed Warsame, Mustaf Abdi Adan and Faysal Jama Mire posed as a nuclear family and used false identities in applying for visas.
Before coming to the United States in 2001, Adan, 51, of Eden Prairie, allegedly claimed to be married to Ahmed Mohamed Warsame, 54. According to the complaints, the two also claimed that Mustaf Abdi Adan, 33, and Faysal Jama Mire, 31, were their children.
Adan and Warsame divorced in Minnesota soon after Warsame was admitted as a permanent resident, at which time he also changed his name. Warsame has since been living in St. Cloud and Mustaf Adan and Mire have both been living in Hennepin County.
The Diversity Visa Lottery, which grants visas to a limited number of people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, has been in the spotlight since the Oct. 31 terror attack in New York City by a man who immigrated from Uzbekistan under the program in 2010. President Donald Trump called for the elimination of the program after the attack.
In a statement announcing the Minnesota complaints on Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions added that the country’s current immigration system is “easily abused by fraudsters and nefarious actors.”
“Chain migration,” which gives priority for entrance to immigrants with family members, “only multiplies the consequences of this abuse,” Sessions said.
Neither defendant could be reached for comment, and they did not have attorneys listed for them as of late Monday.
In the complaint against Adan, attorneys alleged that she engaged in “alien smuggling,” rendering her ineligible for naturalization. Each of the four also faces numerous counts that include allegations of illegal procurement of naturalization and lacking valid immigration documents.
The United States is seeking a judgment revoking the four defendants’ citizenship and also “forever restraining and enjoining” them from claiming “any rights, privileges, benefits or advantages” under any documentation gained during their initial naturalizations.
According to the affidavit of a Department of State agent assigned to Minneapolis, Warsame omitted a 1996 marriage in Yemen to another woman and details about his biological children. That woman told fraud investigators in 2010 that she was Warsame’s sole marriage and that he had obtained fake marriage documents for himself and Adan, who is a distant relative.
In an interview with the State Department investigator at his St. Cloud home last year, Warsame admitted to posing under a fake name and lying about his marriage to Adan to gain citizenship. Adan and the two men who claimed to be their children were each cousins of Warsame’s, he said. The pair are also accused of falsely claiming a third child, who was denied entry to the U.S.
Minnesota
St. Cloud rejects resolution calling for moratorium on immigration
Published
6 days agoon
Nov 07, 2017ST. CLOUD – Amid mounting national scrutiny of federal resettlement programs, the St. Cloud City Council on Monday soundly rejected a proposal by one of its members to recommend a moratorium on refugee resettlement here.
Council Member Jeff Johnson said that his measure wasn’t intended to permanently ban refugee resettlement, but rather, temporarily stop it in 2018 until the city gets details on its cost to taxpayers. “The overall quality of life” for residents will continue to be “adversely impaired by excessive demands on local resources” by those who are resettling in the city, he stated in the resolution that he presented to the council.
After hearing from supporters and opponents, the council voted down Johnson’s measure 6-1.
The City Hall meeting drew more than 300 residents, some carrying American flags while others held signs that read “All Are Welcome” — reflecting the growing and often tense debate in this city of 67,000 residents over the resettlement issue.
Earlier this summer, dozens of residents delivered a petition to the council demanding that it limit or control resettlement. But just two weeks ago, shortly after Johnson’s proposed measure was e-mailed to his colleagues, the council did just the opposite, approving by a 5-1 vote a resolution by Council Member Jeff Goerger that stated St. Cloud is a welcoming community. Johnson cast the lone dissenting vote then. On Monday, the council reaffirmed Goerger’s resolution, with Johnson casting the lone opposing vote.
Natalie Ringsmuth, executive director of #UniteCloud, a nonprofit that promotes tolerance in central Minnesota, said the vote, while symbolic, was a pivotal moment in helping St. Cloud shed a long-held reputation for being a racist, unwelcoming area.
“St. Cloud is basically stepping out and saying ‘This is who we are — we are a welcoming community,’ ” she said. “People can point to this and say St. Cloud is moving in the right direction. They can’t say we’re bigots and racists anymore. We’re not ‘White Cloud.’ ”
East African refugees — mostly Somali — first started moving to this Mississippi River city about seven years ago. Since then, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, the only organization that oversees refugee resettlement in St. Cloud, has helped move an average of 189 refugees a year — a total of 1,512 — to the city. The organization expects to resettle another 225 refugees here in 2018.
That’s helped to make St. Cloud not only bigger, but more diverse.
Of the more than 59,000 residents in the city in 2010, 92 percent were white. By 2015, the city had grown to 66,000 residents, 84 percent of whom were white, according to U.S. Census data American Fact Finder.
But the rapidly changing face of the community has been unsettling for some. Anti-Muslim events here have drawn crowds, mirroring rising anti-Muslim sentiment nationally. When a 20-year-old Somali refugee stabbed and wounded 10 people at a local mall in 2016, some feared that Muslims might be targeted in retaliation.
Instead, community leaders hosted unity rallies and posted signs across neighborhoods welcoming refugees and people of different faiths.
But in August, a group of residents calling themselves “St. Cloud Citizens for Transparency” presented a petition to the City Council with nearly 300 signatures from people in Minnesota and 11 other states, asking the council to control refugee resettlement. The petition was led in part by Kathleen Virnig, a St. Cloud resident, who said in an interview that residents just want the city to have a say in how many refugees are resettled and know how much it will cost.
“I have no hatred for some of these people, it’s the religious differences about their way of life,” Virnig said.
Helena Halverson, who has lived in St. Cloud since 1977, added in an interview that a moratorium would put “a pause” on refugee resettlement as the city gets more data.
“I do not like a label that I’m racist or Islamophobic,” she said before Monday’s meeting. “I do like justice and fairness and I do like transparency.”
While introducing his resolution last month, Goerger said St. Cloud is a “just and welcoming community,” a sentiment he believes is shared by most of his council colleagues and the city.
“When communities have hostile reputations toward minorities, that is a really hard reputation to overcome. And unfortunately St. Cloud has that reputation,” said Christopher Lehman, a St. Cloud State University professor of ethnic studies who was one of five speakers who addressed the council at that meeting. “St. Cloud is only going to get more diverse. And we have to decide whether we’re going to embrace that or not.”
On Monday, before Johnson presented his resolution, resident Christopher Chamberlin presented a petition with 500 signatures that he said were in support of the moratorium.
When Johnson introduced the resolution, he cited U.S. State Department travel warnings to places such as Somalia and Ethiopia.
“I’m really troubled here,” Johnson said.
Johnson isn’t alone in asking questions about resettlement costs to local cities. The Trump administration has moved to halt and shrink refugee resettlement at the federal level.
Data that the state compiled for the Star Tribune earlier this year showed that in 2015, Minnesota spent more than $180 million in state and federal dollars on cash, food and medical assistance for refugees — an increase, but still less than 2 percent of total expenses for those programs.
Stearns County staff members, meanwhile, are compiling updated data on resettlement costs to present to the County Board in mid-November. And at the state level, the Minnesota Legislative Auditor’s office is assessing what kind of data on refugee resettlement costs are available to St. Cloud and other communities across the state.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota will host a public webinar on resettlement Nov. 14 with panelists discussing the issue and taking questions. Other organizations also are working on outreach and education.
As Johnson presented his resolution Monday, #UniteCloud was holding a panel discussion to give residents a chance to ask questions of Muslims. While Ringsmuth said recent anti-Muslim rhetoric doesn’t mean the group must go back to square one, she said it shows that it needs to expand its education efforts beyond St. Cloud to outlying central Minnesota towns.
“Everybody,” she said, “wants to have a welcoming community.”
BARTAMAHA TV
MADAXWEYNE FARMAAJO “SABABTA DALKU 10 SANO DAGAAL UGU JIRO WAA DANLEEYDA SIYAASADEED”
AMISOM TROOP DRAWDOWN WILL ‘SHOCK’ SOMALIA, EXPERT
Presidential Candidate in Somaliland making personal calls, asking citizens to vote for him
High spirits as Somaliland prepares to vote
US asks Amisom troops to stay on in Somalia, pledges support
Five things you need to know about Somaliland’s vote
U.S. Conducts Airstrike in Support of the Federal Government of Somalia
Turkey’s Africa Presence
Breakaway Somaliland to elect new president
U.S. and Somali Strikes on Shabab Said to Kill Nearly 100 Militants
A Tech Hub in Mogadishu Aspires to Link Investors and Innovators
ILO rules in favour of Somali journalists’ trade union
Madaxweyne Farmaajo “DANLEEY AYAA SHACABKA IYO XUKUUMADOODA KU DHEX JIRTA”
Obituary: Mohamed Abshir Musa was a leader of Somali independence movement
U.S. and Somali Strikes on Shabab Said to Kill Nearly 100 Militants
Somalis making presence felt on Lewiston’s political scene
Recognition a Key Issue in Somaliland’s Presidential Election
Islamic State thriving in Somalia: UN report
Comprehensive approach to security in Somalia discussed today in Mogadishu
Booliiska Jubbaland Oo Puntland Ku Wareejiyey Eedaysane Kufsi
A Tech Hub in Mogadishu Aspires to Link Investors and Innovators
Breakaway Somaliland to elect new president
Presidential Candidate in Somaliland making personal calls, asking citizens to vote for him
Booliiska Jubbaland Oo Puntland Ku Wareejiyey Eedaysane Kufsi
Comprehensive approach to security in Somalia discussed today in Mogadishu
Madaxweyne Farmaajo “DANLEEY AYAA SHACABKA IYO XUKUUMADOODA KU DHEX JIRTA”
Somali Refugee Uses Art Therapy to Help Others in Egypt
African Union troop drawdown will ‘shock’ Somalia, expert
Canadian Somali Mothers Association wins CPO Community Safety Award
The Othering of Neighbourhoods by Mustafa Ahmed (Walrus Talks)
Minnesota Somalis embrace Election Day
Somalia Hosts Forum On Sustainable Energy
TRENDING
-
Somali News13 hours ago
U.S. and Somali Strikes on Shabab Said to Kill Nearly 100 Militants
-
Somali News22 hours ago
Comprehensive approach to security in Somalia discussed today in Mogadishu
-
Wararka [Soomaali]22 hours ago
Booliiska Jubbaland Oo Puntland Ku Wareejiyey Eedaysane Kufsi
-
Tech15 hours ago
A Tech Hub in Mogadishu Aspires to Link Investors and Innovators
-
Somaliland13 hours ago
Breakaway Somaliland to elect new president
-
Somali News2 hours ago
US asks Amisom troops to stay on in Somalia, pledges support
-
Briefing Room2 hours ago
Turkey’s Africa Presence
-
Somaliland2 hours ago
High spirits as Somaliland prepares to vote
You must be logged in to post a comment Login