WASHINGTON – Andy Luger was on a listening tour in Minnesota's Somali community last year, hearing a string of complaints that ranged from mistreatment at the airport to a Minneapolis suburb's rejection of a proposed Islamic prayer center, when something clicked.
A young person stood up and told the state's newest U.S. attorney that he was tired of telling government leaders about problems; he needed someone to actually solve them.
"That moment … it really crystallized for me," said Luger, who was sworn into the job about a year ago. "We needed action."
So Luger sued the north metro city of St. Anthony for denying the proposed Islamic prayer center. He settled the case and now the prayer center is being built. He also got U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials from Chicago to fly out to Minneapolis to hear directly from the Somali community about racial profiling at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, including from an imam who was double-screened every time he flew.
He encouraged the recruitment of youth workers in several Minneapolis Public Schools with large African populations and growing behavioral problems. Suspensions dropped by nearly half. To combat high unemployment in one Somali neighborhood, Luger lobbied the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs to hold a local job fair for their dozens of openings.
The White House is interested in these efforts. On Wednesday, Luger will present his work, along with community, religious and school leaders from Minnesota, at a Washington summit on countering violent extremism.
Call it a broken windows approach to fighting homegrown terrorism, that is dealing with smaller issues to ease the larger disconnect many Somalis say they feel when trying to blend into their new American communities. Luger hopes that by chipping away at stubborn problems in the Somali community, additional young people will be less enticed by jihadist recruiters to cross the ocean to fight with extremist groups.
Last year, the Justice Department called on Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Boston to develop local community engagement models and come back with concrete ideas they could broadcast internationally, where jihadist recruiters work social media networks to lure people from the United States and western Europe to the Middle East.