Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) took a hard stance on Wednesday against Somali immigrants who refuse to assimilate to American culture, his statements coming after reports of alleged large-scale fraud in his state’s Somali community.
The U.S. House Majority Whip made his remarks during a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Washington, DC, per the Economic Times.
“Guess what? There is nothing racist about calling out a criminal… Sometimes Minnesotans are so afraid that you’re gonna call us a racist, you’re gonna call us an Islamophobe, you’re gonna call us some name that we just don’t want to get into that fight. You know what? I would argue that I never did care, but I am done being careful. Even the least bit careful,” he said.
“I don’t really care where you come from. But if you come to this great country, you have to understand you’re coming here to be an American. We celebrate everyone’s culture, we’re happy with that, as long as you are an American. Celebrate your culture, I don’t care. Italian, Polish… Somali, okay? But they don’t assimilate, and if they don’t assimilate then they should go the hell back to where they came from,” Emmer continued:
It was not the first time Emmer has driven home such a point.
He said in December there was “nothing wrong” with President Donald Trump saying liars, cheaters, and people who stole from Minnesota taxpayers should be removed from the United States, Breitbart News reported.
His comments came during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily:
“By the way, those are his words. I would tell you this. I would tell you that not all Somalis that I have run into in Minnesota are criminals. It just so happens that about 90 percent of the people who have been charged with the crimes that we’re talking about are from the Somali community,” Emmer pointed out, adding that he is actually grateful that Trump has made this a national issue.
“I’m sad, like many Minnesotans, that this is why we’re in the news, but it’s high time that we start putting Minnesotans first. We start actually calling out crime and fraud and holding people accountable, Mike,” Emmer said.
The same month, Emmer issued a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) demanding answers and swift action after the allegations of massive fraud linked to Somali-run publicly funded daycares and healthcare centers.
“The letter comes after a viral investigation by citizen journalist Nick Shirley who reportedly uncovered over $110 million in fraud in a single day,” the Breitbart News article read.
The Somalis, like Chinese, Indians, and Mexicans, are creating their own economic enclaves in the United States that are tied to their homeland through online remittances, investments, and easy air travel. Thus, pots of US-generated cash, which are often corruptly pulled from the federal government, become the focus of foreign governments and home-country entrepreneurs. Those often feed back into Somali politics within the United States, ensuring the enclaves respond to home country politics.
For example, mayors in Minnesota spoke out in February about how fraud affected their communities:
More video footage showed examples of how leaders were more interested in supporting Somalia and maintaining connections to that country than assimilating into American culture:
In addition, “Somalis in Minnesota swindled millions in state Medicaid autism-care programs and sent the cash back to their homeland and its terror groups, investigators say,” Breitbart News reported in November.
More clips showed leftist Minnesota leaders covering for the alleged fraud and supporting Somalians while Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who claimed to have assimilated, spoke about safeguarding the interests of Somalia:
Notably, “The Somali-run taxpayer fraud is a core part of the Democrats’ political machine in Minnesota, according to Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS),” Breitbart News reported in January.
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