ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Early on after resettling in the U.S. in 2009, Abdi Daisane talked to family members abroad about a welcome difference in his new country.
Unlike in the Kenyan refugee camp where he and his family fled to from Somalia, he didn’t need to carry immigration documents around all the time. He didn’t feel like he lived on a border patrolled by agents who could demand his papers because of how he looked. He didn’t live in fear of being indefinitely detained.
Over the last two months, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surged into Minnesota, Daisane felt an erosion of that sense of security he had once excitedly told his loved ones about.
“Now it’s a bit different,” said the St. Cloud man, who is running for an open state House seat this year. “I had to intentionally carry my documents, my passport. For someone who’s been in this country for 17-plus years now, carrying your documentation is just crazy to think about.”
St. Cloud is one of a handful of Greater Minnesota cities where Somalis who began arriving as refugees three decades ago have been woven into the local fabric, though not completely and not without struggles.
Related: Somalis in Greater Minnesota feel ripple effects of Twin Cities ICE operations
These days, the Granite City is home to thousands of people from the Horn of Africa country and could make a strong case for being ICE’s biggest focus in Greater Minnesota. Somalis here have been detained, ICE activity has been frequently reported and an incident between federal agents and residents at a mall housing Somali-owned businesses garnered widespread attention.
If the Trump administration follows through on its announcement to wind down ICE operations in Minnesota, Somali leaders say the city and state will have work to do to overcome lasting damage caused by the federal government’s tactics.
“The longer we have this occupation, the longer we have ICE presence and this ridiculous enforcement, the longer it will take for people to recover,” Daisane said.
A ‘heavy time’
The recovery, as Amin Ali describes it, will be from months filled with “fear, uncertainty and emotional stress for many families.”
Parents were afraid to go to work. Children worried their loved ones wouldn’t come home. Small-business owners lost customers. Workers lost jobs.
“It has been a very heavy time emotionally and financially for our community,” Ali said.
Known as Coach Amin for his work in youth soccer, he directs a new advocacy group called the Somali American Rights Coalition. Members shared their experiences at a press conference in early February organized in part by the local news nonprofit Project Optimist.
St. Cloud Somali Community Radio and other news outlets covered the event. The station’s manager, Ahmed Abdi, has been closely following ICE’s activity in the city.
Despite the Trump administration’s Feb. 12 drawdown announcement, Abdi has seen observer reports of federal agents remaining in the area. During an interview Wednesday, the longtime St. Cloud resident pulled up pictures and videos of agents outside an apartment in nearby Waite Park.
Reports from other Greater Minnesota cities further indicate that any departure of federal agents from the state hasn’t been immediate. Tactics may have changed, but the fear and anxiety instilled in vulnerable residents hasn’t.
Whenever ICE leaves, Abdi said he has long-term concerns about what happens next. Trump and his allies have linked Somalis to fraud in the wake of the massive pandemic-era Feeding Our Future scandal and other cases in the Twin Cities that involved many Somali- Americans.
“There are a lot of false narratives about us, and that’s the biggest issue that we will have,” he said. “It will affect our employment chances, because in this country, everything is (about) trust, right?”
Trump’s rhetoric didn’t distinguish between the wider Somali community and those individual Somalis who have been convicted or are accused of being involved in fraudulent schemes. His broad brush painted Somalis as a whole as, in his words, “garbage.” He said he doesn’t want them in the United States.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, who represents St. Cloud, has perpetuated similar false equivalencies between Somalis and criminals. After once saying Somalis were among the “fastest-assimilating populations,” he falsely accused them of committing 80% of the crimes in the Twin Cities during a more recent interview on Fox Business.
As someone who’s seen fellow Somalis in St. Cloud face employment and housing obstacles over his 20-plus years in the city, Abdi said these characterizations will add on to existing issues.
Trust is also a two-way street. Somalis in Minnesota, the vast majority of them U.S. citizens, have reason to distrust government institutions. A leader in another part of the state, who has seen his city become increasingly diverse, said some of the work his town put into instilling trust in local institutions has been rolled back by ICE.
When a local city leader says you’re welcome, but the most powerful elected official in the country is using federal agents to push the opposite, which message carries more weight? This leader asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his city being targeted by the federal government. He was one of several people who asked not to speak on the record or declined to be interviewed for this story.
Signs of hope
St. Cloud isn’t perfect, but for Daisane, it’s home. He felt it after enrolling at St. Cloud State University after moving from Nebraska in 2013.
“I saw the possibility of building a life here,” he said.
He could start a business, start a family and find social circles for his mother, who didn’t speak English. All of this bore out, despite challenges.
“We have seen a lot of an unwelcoming nature in the community,” he said. “We have seen people that were not excited to see immigrants coming here.”
Multiple people interviewed for this story relayed recent examples of white people harassing Somalis, particularly women whose clothing makes them more easily identifiable. Incidents like this weren’t exclusive to St. Cloud. A Somali leader in Mankato, interviewed for a previous MinnPost story, said similarly ugly incidents happened in his city.
Daisane’s business made him and his staff a target of harassment. He runs a St. Cloud day care.
The child care industry was the subject of a conservative YouTuber’s viral video alleging fraud at Somali-run centers in the Twin Cities. Daisane’s business had no connection to the YouTuber’s allegations. Still, his facility got flooded with harassing phone calls.
“It was a nightmare for a few weeks,” he said.
On security camera feeds in his office, he remembers seeing people approach the day care outside to take pictures. The day care’s staff underwent training to be prepared for the worst.
Safety concerns and threats directed at Somali-run businesses led a coalition of foundations to award rapid-response grants in St. Cloud and central Minnesota in late December. The Initiative Foundation, which covers a wider region including the city, was part of the coalition.
Somali and East African businesses have contributed to the region’s economic vitality, said Brian Voerding, Initiative Foundation president. The funds were a way to support them.
“Our response is really focused on economic impact,” he said. “We’ve seen that in disruptions, closures, loss of workforce.”
Ali is advocating for more economic rebuilding programs to offset losses at small businesses and to support people who lost their jobs because of ICE fears. He also wants more mental health resources to be available to any adults or children who need help processing trauma.
Young people in particular will need support, Abdi said. They’re the ones who will need to live with the results of hateful rhetoric the longest. “Those are the ones who will deal with this false narrative and the trauma that MAGA is doing,” he said.
Daisane isn’t sure when the feeling of being on edge will fade away. His hope is that it doesn’t become a permanent fixture of life.
Related: Trump’s attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Somalis represent a dark escalation
“If you get used to things, then you’re gonna end up adapting differently,” he said.
Justice would go a long way toward keeping what should be an extreme from feeling normal, he added.
“ICE came and terrorized our communities, violated our civil liberties, killed Minnesotans,” he said. “Two Minnesotans died because of them, and if we don’t hold them accountable, that’s going to send a message that the federal government can do whatever they please to the citizens of this country, to the residents of this country, and get away with it.”
As a coach and community leader, Ali believes the path forward will be through advocacy, education and unity. “Our goal is not just recovery, but building a stronger, more resilient Somali community here in St. Cloud and across Minnesota,” he said.
He sees signs of hope in how his community responded to a trying couple of months.
“I also believe this period has strengthened unity within the community,” he said. “We have seen neighbors supporting neighbors, organizations stepping up and stronger community organizing efforts.”
Rebounding won’t be easy, Daisane said. He believes the city he loves will do it, though.
“It’s going to take time for communities to recover, but we will eventually recover,” he said.
