The streets of the Twin Cities are currently roiling in community outrage in a rare case of civil unrest in the area. Okay, “rare” is a bit subjective, given just five years ago the place resembled a block-long Weber Grill, for nights at a time, but still, this is not every month in Minneapolis. The latest fracas is a twofold conflict over ICE agents rolling into town and the fact that they are particularly focused on Somali residents, following the revelations of sprawling taxpayer fraud in the community.

Some speculated that the winter conditions would tamp down the protesters, but that was bypassing the reality that these are people who choose to live there. The gentry of Minny are descendants of Scandinavians who left the tundra-like conditions of their home country and settled in the new country in a place just as frigidly miserable. They actually appreciate the dramatic effect from the plumes of vapor wafting in the camera lights as they deliver profanities hurled at federal agents.

But this does raise some questions regarding the presence of that Somali community in the region. Just how is it that people hailing from a desert-filled nation have come to establish themselves in the frosty region whose primary source of warmth is being a hotbed for hockey? The Census Bureau pegs the city as having the highest concentration of Somalis in the U.S., so what was it about this locale that was drawing them, when previously the state would only register in the public consciousness due to Randy Moss, Mary Tyler Moore, or Al Franken groping a snoozing female soldier?

It is not hard to grasp why the people would be interested in bugging out of Somalia. To start, it is tough to measure the overall health of their economy as the country has no formal domestic agencies covering their activities; they leave that task up to other nations to........

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