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The Republican Senate nominee in Minnesota is sounding the alarm about crime levels in the state amid a wave of Somali gang violence and a foiled terror plot by an American born to Somali parents.
“I hear a lot of concerns from Minnesotans on the campaign trail about crime, and no matter what form that crime takes, Minnesotans know that they feel under a level of threat that has increased lately here in Minnesota, and in the last week and just today,” Michele Tafoya, running as a Republican against Minnesota’s Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “We saw the arrest of an 18-year-old Somali American citizen to Somali parents arrested for a terrorist — planning a terrorist attack — at the Mall of America during a Hmong celebration.”
The suspect in that alleged terror plot is 18-year-old Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, born in the United States to Somali nationals who are naturalized American citizens, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital. Federal court documents said that Mohamud was arrested after purchasing an AK-47-style rifle, magazines and ammunition from an undercover FBI agent whom he believed to be a loyal ISIS member.
MALL OF AMERICA TERROR PLOT THWARTED, SUSPECTED ISIS SYMPATHIZER ARRESTED, FBI ANNOUNCES
Michele Tafoya makes her case as the GOP’s U.S. Senate nominee at the Minnesota Republican state convention at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center in Duluth, Minn., on Saturday, May 29, 2026. (Star Tribune via Getty Images)
The FBI alleges Mohamud had digital communications beginning in December 2024 with a confidential human source he believed was a member of al-Shabaab, a Somali Islamist terror group and offshoot of ISIS.
“I can’t wait until I kill kuffar man. October 24 is the day insha Allah,” one of the messages said. “Kuffar” is a term used to refer to non-Muslims, and “insha Allah” means “God willing.”
The Hmong people are indigenous to Southeast Asia and boast a relatively large population in the United States.
“We have a large Hmong community here in Minnesota as well, and he basically stated that he wanted to take out anyone who was not a Muslim. He also noted that the Mall of America is owned by people who are Jewish,” Tafoya said. “And so this was his plan, and thank goodness for the FBI in Minneapolis here and local law enforcement for catching onto this plan and derailing it well in advance. This is a guy who has pledged his allegiance to ISIS. Again, he is of Somalian descent and terror is alive and well and thank God we averted this massive crisis.”
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The thwarted plot follows a rash of gang violence attributed to Somalis by law enforcement in the suburbs of Minneapolis.
Police in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, said a shooting during the local high school’s homecoming celebration last week was carried out by rival Somali gangs. Similarly, a shooting at a Bloomington, Minnesota gas station over the weekend was attributed to Somali gangs. In the latter incident, more than 100 rounds of ammunition were fired.
“And we have had Somali-related — Somali gang-related — attacks here locally in our suburbs at a high school football game during homecoming, at a Catholic church parking lot, at a gas station, and this is all just really started to peak here in the last couple of weeks. So it’s undeniable. Our law enforcement here are calling it out as the product of Somali gang violence, and we we’ve got to identify it and we have to find a way to deal with it.”
Tafoya also mentioned the Somali fraud scandals have enveloped Minnesota this year.
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is seen wearing a hijab during a December visit to a Somali market alongside Nimco Ahmed, who runs an autism center that is now under investigation. (Somali TV Minnesota)
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“I don’t know how you can legislate that assimilation, but we simply cannot tolerate the level of crime,” she said .”We’ve seen it with fraud here. It’s in the paperwork that the Feeding Our Future fraud was largely … in terms of percentage, probably 98%, Somali people involved in that fraud,” she said.
“What I do think is any guests of this country who commits crime should be sent home with no pathway back,” she said. “If you’re coming here to be a guest of this country or to live in this country you cannot break our laws, and if you’re an American, you cannot break our laws, period.
Tafoya is not against immigration, noting that she’s the granddaughter of immigrants and she has an adoptive Colombian daughter who is as patriotic as they come.
But she’s not going to stop in her mission to battle crime, No matter the background of the criminals, she said, she plans to be an “equal opportunity pain in the a—” to all of them, specifically mentioning corrupt politicians.
Former sportscaster turned political activist and commentator Michele Tafoya is seen at the Fox News Channel studios on April 18, 2024 in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
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“I’m going to represent Minnesotans and Americans, and so there’s, there’s not going to be any limit on the way that I see crime. Crime is crime and it’s going to be committed by a wide variety of people and they all need to be held accountable and accountability has been in short supply here in Minnesota.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.