In the past several weeks Minnesota’s Somalians have come under political attack originating in our nation’s highest office.

President Trump and his radical conservative supporters have asserted that Somalians defraud the government and send money to terrorists. He’s called them garbage. He’s said they should be sent back to Somalia.

He’s acted on his rhetoric by dispatching federal agents to their Minneapolis neighborhood to check on immigration status. He’s done that even though local and state officials haven’t asked for federal help.

Minnesota Republican congressman Tom Emmer, a leading Trump supporter, made the false claim that 80 percent of the crimes in the Twin Cities are committed by Somalians. If we lived in a perfect world I’d laugh at that kind of stupidity.

It’s a problem because there are at least a million ignorant people who believe the lies. I feel a need to put in my two cents by sharing my career experiences involving Somalians. I hope it sets the record straight in the minds of at least one or two readers.

Back in 2001 during my 12-year run as a full time news reporter at the Independent I covered a day-long conference at Marshall High School about Somali culture. It was well attended and everyone reacted positively.

It featured experts from social service agencies who helped Somalians locate in Minnesota beginning in the 1990s as political refugees fleeing a civil war.

One speaker was an administrator for Minneapolis Roosevelt High School, which saw its Somalian population increase in the 1990s from several students to more than 500. There was also a panel featuring Somalian teenagers who spoke about their local high school experiences.

I quoted Heartland Foods production manager Don Cole, who said he didn’t have a problem with Somalians being late for work. He said they showed up every day, and that it was a positive thing.

I later had several jobs after completing graduate school in 2007 that enabled me to interact with Somalians. Twice I worked as an outreach coordinator, for three years with area Soil and Water Conservation Districts and then for two years with the Lyon County Museum. I gave presentations at Marshall schools in which I saw Somali children interact in positive ways with their classmates.

In between my outreach jobs I worked for the Western Community Action housing department on a one-year federal grant. Somalians were part of our client base. Like other people they often qualified for income based housing rehabilitation and energy assistance even though they were employed.

It’s been 10 years since I worked with any Somalians, but recent coverage in the Star Tribune shows that nothing has changed.

They reported in the past week that Somali labor force participation is better than average. They work in a variety of jobs. Some of them are entrepreneurs who own their businesses.

It’s a coincidence that political issues involving Somalians emerged as I was rereading the novel My Antonia by early 20th century author Willa Cather. Her title character was part of a Bohemian Czech immigrant family who spent their first winter in a sod house on the Nebraska plains.

Somalians haven’t had the same kind of hardship, but they faced challenges when they first arrived in the United States.

One of their greatest obstacles was fear of the unknown. Teenagers asked their teachers and school counselors when war was going to start, when people would start shooting at them. They didn’t know what it was like to live in peace.

Language barriers were another big issue, mainly because almost every Somalian was illiterate is his or her own language. They had to learn the connection between reading, speaking and writing.

Somalians have come a long way in the past 30 years. Many of them have mastered English. They function more easily when they use banks, post offices or grocery stores. Children who were born in the United States have graduated from high school.

It’s morally wrong to insult a particular nationality and to target it for deportations. Our best response is to take a stand for diversity. We should be willing to form friendships with culturally diverse neighbors and co-workers.

Somalians haven’t damaged our economic or social fabric. Instead they’ve become an asset. A big reason many small cities are growing in Greater Minnesota is that they’ve seen increases in their immigrant populations.

We should make sure Somalians and other minorities know that we value them. We should support them and wish them continued success.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and conttibutyor to the Marshallm Independent