WASHINGTON – Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, who represents a sizable Muslim community in his Minneapolis district, has a message for Obama administration officials: Work with the locals during this time of unrest in the Middle East.
"The most important thing to understand about the Islamic community in Minnesota is it sees itself as part of Minnesota," said Ellison, who was the first Muslim to be elected to Congress. "We need to work with the local community and build trust with the local community … so it's important to monitor web traffic and also to engage with the local community in countering violent extremism. This is an important thing to do. … At the end of the day [ISIL] is messaging to the world."
In light of increased recruitment in the United States and Europe by the Islamic terrorist organization ISIL, Obama administration officials say they are stepping up engagement to Muslim communities across the United States — including Minnesota — to get them to speak up if they see radicalization taking place.
ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, is a growing Islamist terrorist army in Iraq and Syria that is actively recruiting fighters in Europe and the United States, including Minnesota. Two Americans who have died fighting with the terror group had Minnesota connections. A federal grand jury in St. Paul is investigating a group of Somali-Americans who were allegedly conspiring to join terrorists fighting in Syria.
Speaking to the Star Tribune last week, Phil Gordon, White House coordinator for the Middle East, said officials "were very attuned" to ISIL's propaganda machine — on social and print media — that has tempted some young American Muslims to join the movement in the Middle East.
Gordon said more European than American youths have been recruited to fight with ISIL — but that Obama administration officials are aware that recruitment has stepped up. Officials on Friday confirmed that ISIL could muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters mostly through a sophisticated propaganda machine that targets disaffected young people through social media.
"We have obviously been reaching out to American Muslim communities who are overwhelmingly supportive of our efforts to denounce ISIL and show it for what it is and encourage them to speak up so that we minimize this risk that some Muslims are susceptible to this propaganda," Gordon said.
Democratic Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar have called on the Justice Department to fortify resources in Minnesota as details emerge that between 20 and 30 Minnesotans have been actively recruited by ISIL.
