Trump says he is ending deportation protections for Somalis in Minnesota
President Trump announced Friday that he was ending deportation protections for Somali immigrants in Minnesota.
The president wrote on his Truth Social platform that he was “terminating, effective immediately, Temporary Protected Status (TPS program) for Somalis in Minnesota.”
Mr. Trump said, without providing evidence, that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of this great state.”
He also accused Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, without evidence, of overseeing a state that had become “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
“Send them back where they came from,” he said. “It’s FINISHED!”
In response, Walz said in a social media post about
The president did not provide further details on this decision.
TPS is a federal program that allows migrants from unstable countries to live and work legally in the United States.
Somalia’s TPS designation runs until March 17, 2026, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency that is part of the Department of Homeland Security. As of March 31, according to Congress.gov, 705 Somali immigrants in the United States were approved for TPS. Minnesota also has the largest Somali population in the United States, the Associated Press reports.
CBS News has contacted DHS and Walz for comment.
The Trump administration also moved to end TPS protections. for Afghan, Venezuelan, Syrian And South Sudanese national. These actions have been the subject of significant legal challenges.
Republican Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Lisa Demuth, who represents Cold Spring, said in a written statement that she was “pleased” that Mr. Trump recognized the “severity of the fraud problem” in the state.
“The sad reality is that far too many people welcomed into this country have abused the trust and support given to them, and Minnesota taxpayers have suffered billions of dollars in consequences as a result,” Demuth said, without providing evidence.
Jaylani Hussein, president of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations decried the decision Friday, saying in a statement that the group was “deeply disappointed that the administration has chosen to end the Somali TPS program in Minnesota, a legal lifeline for families who have built their lives here for decades.”
“This is not just a bureaucratic change; it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community, motivated by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric,” Hussein said. “We strongly urge President Trump to reverse this ill-advised decision.”
