Tim Walz opened Minnesota's door to Somali immigrants as gangs became more prevalent

Critics of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was recently named Vice President Harris' running mate on the 2024 Democrat presidential ticket, are highlighting his liberal stance on immigration in spite of Somali gang issues that have plagued the Twin Cities over the last two decades.

Somali gangs began growing in Minneapolis in the late 1990s and early 2000s as refugees escaped a civil war in their home country.

"Minnesota has always been a welcoming place for new immigrants, and we have no problem with that, but back in 2008 [through] 2012 to the beginning of Walz's administration, the refugee population continued to grow and grow and grow," retired Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, a 38-year law enforcement professional and Minneapolis native, told Fox News Digital. "And it went unchecked."

Stanek, who retired in 2019, testified about Somali gangs before Congress in 2012, saying they are unique compared to "traditional" American gangs because they don't deal in narcotics as much as other organized criminal groups.

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In November 2010, 29 suspected Somalian gang members were indicted for a prostitution trafficking operation, according to open-source reporting. Over a 10-year period, Somalian gang members transported underage females from Minnesota to Ohio and Tennessee for prostitution. (Minneapolis Police Department)

"The most successful gang prosecutions require a narcotics nexus. Somali gang criminal activities are not based on a certain geographical area or turf," he said at the time. "The gang members will often congregate in certain areas but commit their criminal acts elsewhere. The criminal acts are often done in a wide geographic area that stretches outside the Twin Cities seven-county metro area, and their mobility has made them difficult to track."

Typical crimes committed by Somali gangs, Stanek said at the time, include credit card fraud, including "credit card skimming," witness tampering and intimidation, store burglaries and what Stanek described as "a terrorism nexus to gang activity."

"In 2007, a local Somali community started to report that some of the youth in the area had essentially disappeared without warning," Stanek explained in his testimony. "It was later learned that 20 young men had left Minneapolis to travel to Somalia to receive training and fight as members of al-Shabaab."

One such man moved to Minneapolis as a teenager in 1983, and following a shoplifting charge, he "fell into the violent street gang called the Somali Hot Boyz" and later "emerged as a recruiter for al-Shabaab, which eventually led him to leave Minneapolis for the Horn of Africa in 2008."

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Attorney General Eric Holder is joined by law enforcement representatives and U.S. attorneys from Alabama, Minnesota and California to announce that 14 people have been charged with supporting a Somali terrorist group in 2014. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

The state accounts for 25% of all ISIS recruits in the country, according to Minnesota nonprofit American Experiment. 

While the majority of Somali refugees living in Minnesota are a peaceful population, there are also a number of different violent gangs plaguing Minneapolis in particular, which is home to the largest Somali community in the United States. They go by names like the "Somali Mafia," "Somali Outlaws," "Young n’ Thuggin (YNT)" and the "Taliban," as Fox News Digital previously reported.

"Ninety-five-plus percent of the Somali population are law-abiding, good people. … They want to come here to raise their families, start their jobs. That's all good, but the other 5% continue to cause mischief and engage in violent crime."

— Rich Stanek, former Hennpin County sheriff

One neighborhood in Minneapolis called Cedar Riverside has been nicknamed "Little Mogadishu" due to the area's large concentration of Somali immigrants; Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia. The neighborhood saw a 56% increase in violent crime between 2010 and 2018, according to the Star Tribune.

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Young men play soccer in Currie Park next to the Cedar-Riverside apartment complex that houses mostly Somalis on June 30, 2011, in Minneapolis. (Jahi Chikwendiu/Washington Post)

While Minnesota's Somali population has been growing since the early 20th century, it has become the largest immigrant group in the state in recent years, with an estimated population of more than 86,000 in the state currently, though that number could be as high as 125,000, Stanek testified in 2012.

Approximately half of that population — more than 44,000 — are foreign-born Somali immigrants, according to 2008-2022 census data complied by Minnesota Compass.

Of Minnesota's 500,000-person, foreign-born population, Somalis are currently the fastest-growing group behind Mexicans, according to Minnesota Compas.

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Why Minnesota? Aside from Democrat leadership's embrace of policies helping illegal immigrants, experts have attributed the state's large Somali population to volunteer agencies that help refugees settle in the United States. Minnesota is also a designated refugee resettlement state.

Somali refugees seeking new lives in America have survived an ongoing war that has spanned decades, and while some have found peace in Minnesota, others say both foreign-born and U.S.-born Somali youth have turned to violence in their own U.S. communities.

Somali refugees seeking new lives in America have survived an ongoing war that has spanned decades. (Hassan Bashi/Xinhua)

"When they come here, they come with their own experiences of not trusting the police and from a place where the police are known to be corrupt. And the challenge for us lies in trying to get them to cooperate," a Minneapolis law enforcement officer told Fox News Digital in 2019. "They’ll often call 911 when they need help. But when we come, they often won’t then tell us who is causing the problem so we can take action or stop the crime from happening again."

Walz wrote to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2021, pushing for a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants as part of a potential budget reconciliation bill, including those protected from deportation and those who came to the U.S. as minors.

In 2019, Walz petitioned the Trump administration to send more refugees to Minnesota.

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Kamala Harris and her newly selected running mate, Tim Walz, are campaigning across the country this week. (Andrew Harnik)

"Minnesota has a strong moral tradition of welcoming those who seek refuge. Our state has always stepped forward to help those who are fleeing desperate situations and need a safe place to call home," Walz wrote in a letter to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "I offer my consent to continue refugee resettlement in the State of Minnesota."

Stanek said Walz "has not been good for public safety or law enforcement in Minnesota."

"What he promised as a moderate Democrat from southern Minnesota has changed dramatically, and he continues to move farther and farther left."

— Rich Stanek, former Hennepin County sheriff

"Back in 2018, Minnesota law enforcement supported Tim Walz in his first bid for Governor of Minnesota. They are greatly sad they did that. Six years later, they feel like they were taken for a long ride."

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While Walz's stance on immigration and illegal immigration aligns well with Democrats, generally, Republicans have criticized his policies enacted over the last several years as far-left, including a bill to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses that Walz signed into law last year.

Democrats also passed measures to make illegal immigrants eligible for a tuition-free college program and expanded access to the state’s MinnesotaCare to include those in the country illegally during Walz's time as governor, Axios reported. In 2018, he appeared to voice support for "sanctuary policies."

"I always say, let me know how high it is," Walz said in a July appearance on CNN of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. "If it’s 25 feet, then I’ll invest in the 30-foot-ladder factory."

The Trump campaign responded with this: "Tim Walz wants to invest in a ‘ladder factory’ to help illegals scale the border wall. Walz supports sanctuary cities, driver's licenses for illegals, free college for illegals, free health care for illegals, and so much more. Just like Kamala."

Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Email tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on Twitter at @audpants.