❓WHAT HAPPENED: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been directed to target illegal Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, focusing on individuals with deportation orders.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: ICE officials, the Trump administration, Somali immigrant communities, and local Minnesota leaders.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Operations are expected to begin this week in the Twin Cities, home to the largest Somali community in the U.S.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Somalians ripped off [Minnesota] for billions of dollars. Every year, billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88 percent. I don’t want them in our country.” – President Donald J. Trump
🎯IMPACT: The move comes after President Trump ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali illegal immigrants and the revelation that Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) ignored allegations of widespread Medicaid fraud by the Somali community, which saw funds sent to Islamic terror groups in their home country.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been directed by the Trump administration to focus on arresting and detaining illegal Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The agency will prioritize the targeting of migrants with deportation orders. The enhanced operations are expected to begin this week.
“Somalians ripped off [Minnesota] for billions of dollars. Every year, billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88 percent. I don’t want them in our country,” President Donald J. Trump said during a Cabinet meeting earlier on Tuesday. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks. We don’t want them. We are going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage to our country,” he continued, adding: “These aren’t people that work. These are people who do nothing but complain… When they come from hell, and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.”
Late last month, the President directed his administration to begin a review of Somali green card holders, as well as ordering the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for illegal Somali immigrants that had been extended to March 17, 2026, under the former Biden government. Trump cited ongoing issues with Somali gangs and public corruption as reasons for the policy shift.
However, Democrat leaders in Minnesota are already criticizing the planned ICE action. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) expressed solidarity with the Somali community, saying, “Minneapolis is proud to be home to the largest Somali community in the entire country.” St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter (D) called the actions “un-American.” Meanwhile, Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman (D), himself born in Somalia, condemned the administration’s rhetoric, describing it as “racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic.”
The National Pulse reported on Monday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had announced the Treasury Department has initiated investigations into into allegations of mismanagement by Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) and the former Biden government, which allowed over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to be funneled by members of Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community to Islamist terrorist groups in their home country, including al-Qaeda franchise al-Shabaab.
Walz, the Democrats’ failed 2024 vice presidential candidate, is facing allegations leveled by members of his own administration that he ignored evidence of the Medicaid fraud scheme and instead retaliated against the whistleblowers, apparently in an attempt to cover up the corruption.
Notably, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem appeared to indicate during the aforementioned Cabinet meeting that an estimated 50 percent of visa holders from Somalia, residing in Minnesota, obtained legal status through fraudulent means.
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