Minnesotans gear up to fight Trump ending Somalis’ temporary protected status | Minnesota

Since the president announced he would end the legal immigration status program for Somalis in Minnesota, local elected officials and community members have said they will fight back.

On Truth Social on Friday, Trump wrote that he would “end, effective immediately” the temporary protected status of Somalis in Minnesota. Trump wrote that Minnesota was a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.” “Send them back where they came from. It’s OVER!” he wrote.

Community advocates said the rhetoric vilifying all Somalis was inaccurate and put them in danger. They are concerned about the increasing targeting of immigration measures and the demonization of the Somali community.

The move comes after several high-profile cases of fraud in public programs, including by Somali residents, which right-wing media have amplified. A recent article claimed that these fraudulent activities meant Minnesota taxpayers were funding terrorist groups in Somalia. Republican members of Congress from Minnesota later raised the claim in a letter demanding an investigation.

“If anyone, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity, commits fraud, they must be held accountable to the law as an individual,” said Khalid Omar, organizer of the interfaith group Isaiah. “Collective punishment is unacceptable and racist, and using the actions of a few people to attack an entire community is un-American.” »

TPS allows people from countries with dangerous or unstable conditions to live legally in the United States. An administration can grant it or withdraw it, through the Department of Homeland Security, as the Trump administration has done for countries like Venezuela since Trump took office in January. The department has so far not removed Somalia from the status countries.

Typically, eliminating TPS would apply to the entire country, not just a single state like Minnesota, making Trump’s promise to eliminate it for the state only legally questionable, and seemingly irrelevant to Somalia’s stability.

“Clearly, the fraud investigations in the United States have nothing to do with whether conditions in Somalia have stabilized,” said Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the country, most of whom are U.S. citizens. Ilhan Omar, a congressman and frequent target of Trump and his allies, said in a statement on

TPS currently protects from deportation about 700 Somalis residing in the United States – a small number compared to the tens of thousands of Somalis who live in Minnesota.

“That’s not to say that for the people who will be affected, it’s not extremely concerning, of course, because it means they will lose the ability to work to support themselves, and they will have to leave the country, potentially arrested, detained and deported if they don’t leave,” Decker said.

Somalia has been covered by TPS since 1991, benefiting from dozens of extensions of protected status. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she is evaluating whether to extend the status, which will expire in March.

Keith Ellison, the state attorney general, said his office was “exploring all of our options” to respond if Trump eliminates TPS.

“Trump’s announcement to fire Somali TPS holders in Minnesota is legally problematic — even though a president has a lot of authority to designate and revoke TPS, he cannot legally exercise that power to discriminate against an ethnic group or target a state, like MN. It’s not over,” Ellison wrote on X.

Omar said the community held a potluck this weekend in response to Trump’s targeting, during which members of the Somali community, their neighbors and supporters gathered to show solidarity. He said people think Trump’s attacks on Somalis distract from the affordability crisis and other Trump woes — something Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also indicated in his reaction to the presidency. “It’s no surprise that the president chose to broadly target an entire community,” Walz wrote on X. “That’s what he’s doing to change the subject.”

Omar said Somalis in Minnesota are “the backbone of this community,” who worry and experience the same struggles as all Americans. “They’re not going anywhere,” he said.

“The only thing we know that can stop this administration from attacking people is for ordinary people to stand up and oppose this narrative,” he said.