St. Cloud nonprofit reports harassment wrongly linking it to fraud in state programs
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A St. Cloud nonprofit that serves mainly Somali immigrants and refugees says it's been the target of harassing behavior in recent weeks.
The Center for African Immigrants and Refugees Organization, or CAIRO, provides housing, health programs, workforce training and other services.
Executive Director Abdikadir Bashir said over the past three weeks, two men showed up at CAIRO's office, threatened staff and accused them of defrauding taxpayers.
Bashir said the men appear to be unfairly linking his organization to recent cases of fraud in state government programs.
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"At this point in time, it looks intimidating, trying to unsettle people maybe,” Bashir said. “We hope it stays that way. But fear is fear. You can never take things for granted."
Bashir said the incidents alarmed staff and forced the nonprofit to take safety precautions.
“We had a long-standing open door policy at our building,” Bashir said. “It is no longer the case. Our doors are locked now.”
St. Cloud police were called to the latest incident on Monday. When officers arrived, the man had already left, Chief Jeff Oxton said.
Officers determined that no crime had been committed, Oxton said. But they tracked the man down and banned him from the CAIRO office for a year for inappropriate behavior.
"We're going to be very aggressive with arresting people if they've committed a crime,” Oxton said. “However, there are free speech issues that make it so that there are some gray areas."
Oxton said he knows there is heightened concern about the potential for violence, and his department is taking the incidents seriously.
“We make sure we do everything we can possibly think of to ensure that we look into these situations and get people to back off on the behavior that's causing people to feel unsafe,” he said.
The police department also is providing extra patrols in some areas, Oxton said.
Bashir linked the recent confrontations to the news cycle and disparaging comments made by President Donald Trump about Somali Americans, which he said painted the entire community as corrupt.
Trump’s rhetoric has repeatedly focused on fraud in Minnesota, including the Feeding Our Future scheme, in which federal prosecutors have charged 78 people connected to the defunct Twin Cities nonprofit with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs. The defendants in the case include people of Somali descent.
“Those words do not remain abstract. They travel to our communities,” Bashir said. “Then, what happens is these people show up in our spaces, and they somewhat feel justified in harassing and intimidating and threatening people like us, because we look like the ones who have committed the fraud.”
Bashir said the security incidents have taken a lot of staff time and energy that should be directed elsewhere. He noted that CAIRO serves not just the Somali community, but also other immigrants, refugees, communities of color and low-income families.
Bashir said it’s tiring to be constantly asked to condemn the actions of others who committed crimes, simply because they are Somali.
“The constant pressure to deal with that — to explain ourselves or to even distance ourselves and prove our legitimacy — is exhausting and traumatic,” he said. “We wish that was not the case, but that is the climate and culture that we find ourselves in today.”
