Minneapolis Police Chief Apologizes After Linking "East African" Youth to Crime as National Scrutiny of Somali Community Intensifies

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara publicly apologized to the city's Somali community after saying in a recent interview that "groups of East African kids" were responsible for some juvenile crime in the city.

At a Thursday news conference, O'Hara acknowledged the warm reception he has received from Somali residents and said he and community leaders have worked together for several years to address public-safety concerns. "We have to be honest at times with the problems that we're having in our community, and we need our community to help us fix those problems together because it's real and it's serious," he said.

"If people have taken anything that I have said out of context in a way that’s caused harm, I apologize, and I’m sorry for that because that’s not my intention at all." — Chief Brian O'Hara

O'Hara's apology followed an earlier interview in which he discussed a deadly Halloween shooting and a broader rise in juvenile crime. In that interview, he suggested the offenders were not "poor kids from Minneapolis" but youths traveling from outside the city, and he referred to "groups of East African kids" coming from neighboring communities. Local reporting has linked the shooting to a broader pattern of assaults, robberies, auto thefts and other incidents in the Dinkytown area.

The remarks prompted a petition demanding an apology and raised concerns among community leaders that the comments would deepen existing stigmas against Minneapolis' Somali residents. Leaders and advocates argued that broad generalizations risk alienating community partners at a moment when cooperation between police and residents is crucial.

Broader context and political fallout

The apology came amid heightened national attention on Minneapolis' Somali population after an investigation by researchers at the Manhattan Institute alleged that funds linked to Minnesota could be traced to Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-affiliated extremist group in Somalia. The study's authors, Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo, and a former counterterrorism official quoted in the research warned that informal money flows may occasionally benefit armed groups overseas.

In response to the report, President Donald Trump announced an immediate termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in Minnesota, a move that drew praise from some lawmakers and concern from immigrant advocates. On social media, the president criticized state leadership and said the decision would take effect immediately.

Christopher F. Rufo, one of the investigation's authors, called the TPS termination a first step and urged further reviews of asylum, refugee and naturalization cases. A group of Republican members of Congress from Minnesota requested a federal investigation into alleged fraud and money transfers tied to members of the Somali community, citing several state-level fraud cases involving programs such as Feeding Our Future, Housing Stabilization Services, the Child Care Assistance program and the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program.

Those developments have increased tension between city and state officials, law enforcement and Somali community leaders, who say the community has been unfairly stigmatized. Officials have been asked for comment as federal and state authorities consider the investigation's claims and potential next steps.

Community advocates have called for careful, evidence-based inquiry rather than broad-brush public statements, emphasizing that public safety depends on trust and cooperation between police and the neighborhoods they serve. Chief O'Hara said he remains committed to working with Somali and other community partners to address crime while seeking to avoid further harm through unintended generalizations.