MINNEAPOLIS — A recent meeting at Minneapolis' Karmel Mall was urgent for the Somali American leaders who convened it: FBI agents had been peppering business owners and shoppers with questions surrounding a fraud investigation involving government-funded child nutrition programs, and the leaders felt the whole community was once again under siege.
Anxiety filled the meeting. Would the investigation of just a few people scare Somali American parents from seeking food for their children, even if they desperately needed it? Would other support programs disappear altogether, a casualty of mistrust?
"This is hitting the community really hard," said Bashir Garad Dahir, who later described the meeting. "We need crystal clear answers from the government. At some point we will come out and demand it because we're concerned about the way the FBI is conducting its investigation. It is terrorizing the community."
