I have been writing for the past 18 months about the Somalis-only security tour of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that Star Tribune reporter Stephen Montemayor mentioned in a March 2016 article related to the case of the “Minnesota men” subsequently convicted of seeking to join ISIS. It has taken two Freedom of Information Act requests, two FOIA appeals and one FOIA lawsuit filed in federal district court here to obtain the documents on which the column is based.
On October 12 I took the version of the tour given to the immigration law section of the Minnesota State Bar Association. Having taken the tour, I thought I might be able to bring closure to the story and have written up a tentative final account that City Journal has just posted as “Magical mystery tour, Minneapolis version.” Please check it out.
I would like to acknowledge the editorial encouragement of Weekly Standard editor Richard Starr as well as the editorial assistance of City Journal managing editor Paul Beston. I am most grateful for their interest in the column. Stephen Montemayor responded to a last-minute question as I finished work on the column. He promptly gave me the information I was looking for. I am grateful to him as well.
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