Pastor Rob Ketterling calls Minnesota’s Somali settlement policies a 'case of compassion without a standard'

A day after a gang-related shooting disrupted Eden Prairie High School’s homecoming football game in Minnesota on Oct. 2, leaving two teenagers wounded in the parking lot outside Aerie Stadium, megachurch Pastor Rob Ketterling called on Christians to help fix the state’s “Somali gang problem,” which he later blamed on “compassion without a standard.”

“It’s not bad to admit we have a Somali gang problem that needs to be fixed now. Anyone that doesn’t want to address this and fix the problem is a greater problem,” the founder and lead pastor of the 10,000-member River Valley Church in Minnesota said in a post on X that highlighted a news report stating police accused Somali gangs for the shooting.

“I love my family, I love my church community, and I love my neighbor; it is not wrong to admit the problem, name the problem, and fix the problem. We don’t have to live this way. Let’s bless our State by bringing solutions, leaders that care for all of us, and restoring the State we love,” he added.

After the Somali Civil War broke out in 1991, the U.S. government formally allowed Somali families to resettle across the country under its refugee and asylum commitments. Several factors made Minnesota the primary hub for the diaspora. One was the work of voluntary resettlement agencies in the state, many of them faith-based organizations such as Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities. Others were economic opportunities and secondary migration, as refugees who first settled elsewhere moved to the state.

That resettlement is now failing, said Ketterling, who called it “a case of compassion without a standard” in a second, longer post on X on Oct. 6.

“It is failing and we are at a critical moment. It is what happens when a low-education refugee population from a clan-based, low-trust society is settled in one metro, given immediate access to a generous welfare state, and told that maintaining a separate culture is the goal,” Ketterling wrote.

“There are about 80,000 to 110,000 people, most already citizens, concentrated in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Ramsey, and St. Cloud with new enclaves and concentrations building in neighboring counties. There are too many to undo and that is not a legal option as well so let’s look for real solutions. We need to stop feeding the problem.”

Authorities have identified 18-year-old Adam Abdihakeem Adam of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, as the primary suspect in the Eden Prairie High School shooting.

A statement released by officials in Edina, Minnesota, also highlighted two other shootings, in July and September. The statement noted that “Somali teens and young adults have been the targets of — or have had some level of responsibility for — these shootings in community gathering places.”

Authorities in Minnesota told NewsNation that more than 100 gang-related shootings in the state over the past two years have been linked to Somali American youth gangs.

Last Friday, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged public concern over the shootings.

“The recent shootings involving Somali gangs have left people across our communities worried about their safety,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “We hear those concerns. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, and at the same time the actions of those responsible should not define an entire community.”

Ketterling did not respond to a request for comment from The Christian Post on Thursday. In his Oct. 6 post, however, he outlined what he sees as the causes of the problem and proposed solutions.

He argued that Somali students are not punished equally in schools and that too many Somalis live in poverty or depend on welfare. He also pointed to weak English skills. Deportation, he said, is not a real solution because most are U.S.-born or naturalized citizens.

Ketterling is calling for Somalis to face equal penalties for violations in schools and courts.

“No racial suspension targets. Federal gun charges, adult charging for carjacking, trespass bans, witness support. English and work required for cash and food aid. Contract bans after fraud convictions. Stop new placements and chain migration into Minnesota. Deport the removable slice. Offer paid exit to anyone who will take it. Do not pretend the citizens are leaving,” he wrote.

He also called on churches to “quit the resettlement pipeline, back one standard” and “help individuals who will live by it.”

“Stop the feel-good compassion that is actually hurting, not helping. In the Muslim community, Imams need to stop making an apology from leaders naming Somalis a condition for helping. They must stop defending the wrongdoing; otherwise they are a veto to any progress,” he wrote.

Ketterling urged voters to elect new state leaders who “will not allow the corruption to continue.” He also suggested the U.S. follow Denmark’s example. Denmark welcomed Somali refugees in the 1990s but later adopted some of Europe’s most restrictive asylum policies, leading to the forced revocation of hundreds of residence permits.

“Denmark already has done the version people called cruel: lower benefits, temporary status, breakup of the enclaves, mandatory early learning of Danish. They cut the inflow of Somalis. It did not remove the citizens. Minnesota has not done even the mild version of that,” Ketterling wrote.

“‘Minnesota Nice’ is the perfect environment for the problem to continue, we need to toughen up,” he added. “If not, the neighborhoods and the schools are in huge trouble. It’s way past time to take this problem seriously and we need everyone to work together to turn things around in Minnesota.”