US Quietly Resumes Somali Deportation Process
ST. PAUL (AP) — Now that the Somali government has stabilized the U.S. has quietly resumed deporting a handful of Somali immigrants with deportation orders. The development is being monitored by Minnesota's Somali community, the largest in the country.
The lack of a functioning government in the African country meant there was nowhere to deport those individuals. But in January the U.S. recognized the government there for the first time in decades.
Not all people with deportation orders have committed crimes. Some have been denied asylum, often because they lack proper documents.
Ahmed Samatar teaches international studies at Macalester College, and is a former Somali presidential candidate. He says the local Somali population isn't too concerned, perhaps because the number of deportations has been small.
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