Somalia, Minnesota

The Somali community wants its youth to look beyond gangs. The non-Somali community, on the other hand, would like the Somalis to go back to, you know, Somalia:

The enterprise described in a federal indictment has shocked members of Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the United States. And it suggests that gangs known in recent years for armed robberies, burglaries and even killings of fellow East Africans have evolved into more lucrative activities, and are taking their crimes from Twin Cities to other parts of the country.

“It’s clear the life of the gang in the community is getting much more complicated,” said Omar Jamal, an advocate for the Somali community in Minneapolis. “It’s one thing to go out and have a random action. It’s something quite new to the community to have an organized sex trafficking.”

There are seven Somali gangs in Minneapolis, and about 200 documented Somali gang members and associates, she said — about 10 percent of the roughly 2,100 documented active gang members in the Minneapolis Police Department’s system. The gang members are a small fraction of the Somali population: The U.S. Census says roughly 25,000 Somalis live in Minnesota, though local advocates say the number is much higher.

More immigrants doing the jobs Americans won’t do. Fortunately, the police liason officer to the Somali community has a wonderful plan. Instead of being left to get involved in gang activity, Somali teenagers are being encouraged to turn to a mosque where they can learn, among other things, the martial arts.

That’s going to turn out well….

Notice that at no point has anyone even attempted to try arguing that Somali immigration has been of any actual benefit to Minnesotans.