Donald Trump’s comments about Somali refugees in the US have drawn outrage among Muslim Americans in two states with large refugee populations, with Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress calling the billionaire presidential candidate’s comments ‘nonsense’.
At a rally in Maine last week, the Republican nominee quoted a 2015 Washington Times article about Minnesota’s resettlement of Somali refugees, saying the state has become a ‘rich pool’ of potential recruiting targets for ISIS and other Islamic terror groups. Minnesota’s Somali community — a population estimated to be at more than 70,000 — was quick to condemn Trump’s comments.
Since 2014, there have been at least nine Minnesota men arrested for allegedly plotting to join ISIS in Syria. In June, three — Guled Omar, 21, and Mohamed Farah and Abdirahman Daud, both 22 —were found guilty by a federal jury. Six others had already pleaded guilty to the terror charges.
“It’s happening,” Trump said. “It’s happening. You see it and you read about it. You see it. And you can be smart, and you can be cunning and tough, or you can be very, very dumb and not want to see what’s going on, folks.”
