More than six months after Operation Metro Surge ended in Minnesota, many Somali community members are still navigating the anxiety and fear it caused.
Despite the stigma in Somali culture around Western-style mental health care, the barrage of anti-Somali rhetoric and sometimes-violent immigration crackdown has led more Somalis to seek therapy.
Ashwak Hassan, a marriage and family therapist based in Minneapolis, said she saw an influx of calls beginning in October. Mixed-status families in particular showed an increase in “anxiety, depression and social isolation,” she said.
“I think it got even worse once the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti happened. That also amplified even more so they’re white Americans, they’re being killed so that is happening to them, it can also happen to me,” Hassan said.
During the surge, Hassan worked with the Somali Youth and Family Development Center (SOMFAM) to help undocumented Somalis who were afraid to leave their homes. She saw an increase of mental health symptoms especially with older Somalis with PTSD from the Somali Civil War.
SOMFAM founder Fatoun Ali said the Somali community wasn’t prepared for thousands of federal agents to flood the state, targeting immigrant-dense areas including Seward, Cedar-Riverside and the Lake Street corridor in Minneapolis and Somali areas in St. Cloud.
The federal immigration operation shuttered businesses at Karmel Mall and other Somali markets, and led to forceful arrests of U.S. citizens and out-of-state detentions of asylum-seekers and others with current visas.
She said it left many community members shocked and numb.
“We’re dealing with adults who went through the civil war, refugee camp and the devastation of running away from our home countries to come to America and learning a new culture, a new language, a new of living, their life was re-traumatized.”
Mohamed Ali, a center manager at an autism clinic in St. Cloud said one positive outcome from the experience is that more community members saw the value of mental health care.
He said that in St. Cloud, there’s a divide between the majority of the residents and the Somali residents due to what most people see on social media. He said the surge could lead to more engagement between Somali community members and their neighbors.
“What I personally would love to see is the Somali community or the East African community to be more susceptible and be more engaging and be more understanding of their neighbors, to be more involved in different activities, to be more inclusive to their neighbors,” Ali said.
The following advocacy groups and clinics provide mental health services or referrals for Somali clients:
- Hassan Counseling and Family Services: 612-987-5578. Mental health support and trauma-informed care.
- Bridge Healing Center: 320-774-1597. Trauma-specific treatment for immigrants and others. Based in St. Cloud.
- Somali Youth and Family Development Center: Resource center, adult services and youth programming.
- Isuroon: 612-886-2731. Refugee support, mental health support, domestic abuse hotline.
