LISTEN: Fowzia Adde’s conversation with The Flag’s Scott Hennen and Kevin Flynn
FARGO, N.D. – A Fargo-Moorhead immigrant advocate said Somalis in the area are worried after a young man going shopping was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was later released.
“A lot of mothers called me asking me ‘Should we send our kids to school? Should we go to work?’ I told them ‘You’re here legally, so the ones who are worried are the ones who didn’t come through the right door,’” Executive Director of the Immigrant Development Center Fowzia Adde said on “What’s On Your Mind?” on The Flag.
The nonprofit helps connect immigrants refugees with jobs and learn English.
Adde was born in Somalia and became a United States citizen. She said many of the 6,000 Somalis in Fargo-Moorhead came here legally in 1996 and are working and going to school in the area.
In Minnesota, several people of Somali descent have been arrested or charged with defrauding state programs. In December 2025, President Donald Trump said Somalis in the state “have contributed nothing.”
“I don’t want them in our country. We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Let them go back where they came from and fix it,” the president said.
Adde said there are bad apples in Minnesota, but Somalis in Fargo-Moorhead are good citizens.
“There is people who voted for you. We believe in you, so we need to get a little bit of trust and working together because you don’t want to push a community away,” Adde said.
Adde is concerned about fraud in Minnesota.
“How come nobody monitored them? There is questions that we still have. Where is the check and balances? That doesn’t happen in North Dakota,” Adde said.
Adde said while working with North Dakota government workers when her organization received grants, two have followed up with her asking for receipts so all the money given is accounted for.
