The city of St. Paul, Minnesota stood up Wednesday against 2016 Republican presidential contender Donald Trump.
The council voted 6 to 1 on a resolution condemning Trump’s proposed policy to ban all Muslims from coming to the U.S. Originally, city council member Dai Thao wanted a resolution officially unwelcoming Trump from coming to St. Paul, but some, including the editorial board of the Star Tribune, thought that went too far.
Since the mid-2000s, the city has sometimes struggled to keep members of the nearly 100,000 strong local Somali community from joining foreign fighters. Amid conflict in Somalia, some considered returning to Africa to fight for the homeland, but the more current threat of ISIS recruitment is also very real. So far 10 individuals from the area have been arrested for attempting to join ISIS. The number is small, but some have expressed concerns that rhetoric like Trump’s only isolates individuals in the community and could fuel ISIS recruitment.
