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For months now, stories of Somali-led fraud have dominated headlines. However, letters from February recently revealed that the problem is worse than we thought. Somali nationals, including officials in Somalia’s government, are using their connections and power to traffic Somalis into western nations.
Who is praying on the wall?
From the Daily Caller:
Dr. Abdillahi Hashi Abib, a member of Somalia’s Parliament and Foreign Affairs Committee, shared the February letters with the Caller after allegedly receiving no response from the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
A Feb. 12 letter alleges that Somali nationals, including Somali officials with dual U.S.-Somali citizenship, use connections with foreign governments to traffic Somalis into the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
More than 6,900 Somali nationals — including children and people tied to the terrorist group al-Shabaab — were trafficked over the past five months, the February letter claims. The operation allegedly generated roughly $25,000 “per trafficking batch.”
The letter highlights several examples. In one case, Hinda Culusow, chief of protocol for the Somali president and an alleged U.S. citizen, was shown to own and control a private travel agency that facilitates “documentation, travel logistics and intermediary arrangements,” moving clients through irregular channels. Culusow and her husband, who is a sitting member of Somalia’s Parliament, were paid hundreds per-person to bring their clients into western nations.
In another example, U.S. citizen and Somali State Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Mohamed Omar allegedly sold Cuban government scholarships, which were then used for migration purposes to eventually gain entry into the U.S. Omar accomplished this by working with his brother in law, who serves as Somalia’s ambassador to Cuba.
Abib highlighted these examples, telling the Caller that, while the Trump administration is currently addressing the fraud in Minnesota, the President should be more focused on tackling the root cause of Somali-led fraud: the Somali government. According to Abib, the Somali government suppresses information and withholds critical intelligence from the public, Parliament, and U.S. intelligence agencies, creating “strategic and policy implications for the [U.S.]”
How should we respoond? Abib laid out some recommendations. According to him, America needs “independent verification mechanisms, whistleblower protections, an oversight investigation, targeted sanctions on corrupt officials and removal of corrupt Somali leadership followed by a political transition until a new leader is duly elected.”
We now know that fraud like we’ve seen in Minnesota is bigger than just the North Star State. It’s part of a larger effort from a foreign government to steal from and use the American people. Let’s ask God to expose all wrongdoing, and let’s pray for His will to be done!
How are you praying about this? Share your prayers and scriptures below.
(Excerpt from the Daily Caller. Photo Credit: Atmis Somalia – https://www.flickr.com/photos/195242906@N08/52229472833/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=140632972)
