US drive against al Shabaab pressures Somali-American money transfers
Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:44am GMT
* "Only banking system we have"
* Donations of $100 to $200 at a time
By David Bailey
July 30 (Reuters) - A Chicago man pleaded guilty on Monday to planning to
join an al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, the latest U.S. prosecution in a
crackdown that has made it harder for Somali-Americans to send money to the
war-torn country.
Shaker Masri, 28, was arrested in August 2010 as he prepared to leave the
United States and agreed to serve nearly 10 years in prison, the U.S.
Justice Department said.
The prosecutions of Masri and others since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks are
designed to stop support to al Shabaab, a militant group the United States
says has ties to al-Qaeda.
The campaign against al Shabaab has had a chilling impact on legitimate
money transfers from the Somali-American community to relatives in one of
the world's poorest countries, Somali-Americans said.
For more than two decades, Somalia has been ravaged by a civil war that has
left the country with no functioning central banking system and an income
per person only a little over $200 a year, according to the World Bank.
Somali-Americans in Minnesota and other states rely on small money services
businesses to funnel money to their relatives in Somalia.
But many U.S. banks stopped hosting accounts for those businesses because
U.S. laws, starting with the Patriot Act, made them potentially liable if
money ended up in the hands of al Shabaab. The U.S. State Department
designated al Shabaab a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.
Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and TCF Bank stopped providing account services in
recent years.
Sunrise Community Banks stopped at the end of 2011, and others have dropped
out since, adding to the concerns of Somali-Americans in Minnesota, home to
the largest Somali population in the United States at about 34,500,
according to census data.
Maryama Abdi, speaking through an interpreter at the Karmel mall in south
Minneapolis, said she sent up to $150 a month to family in Somalia using
money transfer businesses.
People survive "because of the exchange connections and the money we are
sending," Abdi said. "They can use it to buy milk."
SENDING $100 MILLION A YEAR HOME
U.S.-based Somalis send more than $100 million a year back home, according
to the U.S. Treasury, mostly $100 or $200 at a time. The Somali government
has estimated about $2 billion, or one-third of its gross domestic product,
reaches the country through money transfer businesses.
As part of the crackdown on links to al-Shabaab, 18 people face federal
charges in an investigation into funding and recruiting for al Shabaab in
Minnesota, and several have pleaded guilty. About 20 men have left
Minneapolis for Somalia to join al Shabaab since September 2007 and at least
two of the men charged in the Minnesota investigation are believed to have
been killed there.
U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, supports
legislation to reduce the regulatory burden on the banks for providing the
money transfer services.
"The end goal is to shut down terrorist financing," Ellison said in a
telephone interview. "The end goal is not to shut down American
immigrant-owned small businesses."
About 17 banks across the United States still facilitate those transactions,
Ellison said earlier this month.
The chairman of the Somali American Money Services Association, Said Malin,
said his members were concerned about the uncertainty.
"People are rushing to come and send in money to loved ones," Malin said.
"Every other month, they say this is the last month, or next month or the
third month."
All 14 members of the association shut down temporarily after Sunrise
stopped providing services at the end of 2011, but 11 were able to reopen
using other banking sources, Malin said.
At Karmel mall, Faduma Alim said her whole family suffered if her sick
eldest son did not receive the $150 or $200 she sends each month to care for
him and his four children.
"That is how he survives," said Alim, who also sends money to support the
six children of her deceased brother, who live with their grandmother. "It's
the only banking system we have."
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Wed Aug 01 2012 - 15:39:46 EDT
