According to US media reports, the Trump administration has instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to target undocumented Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Somali migrants, calling them "garbage" and saying he did not want Somali immigrants because "they add little to the United States."
"I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest with you, OK. Somebody will say, 'Oh, that's not politically correct.' I don't care. I don't want them in our country." Trump said on Tuesday at a Cabinet meeting.
"I'll be honest with you, the US would go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country," Trump said.
Trump's disparaging comments came days after his administration announced it was halting all asylum decisions following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington.
The suspect in last week’s incident is originally from Afghanistan, but the US president has used the moment to raise questions about immigrants from other nations, including Somalia.
According to US media reports, the Trump administration has instructed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to target undocumented Somali immigrants in Minneapolis and St. Paul, known as the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and home to one of the largest Somali communities in the world.
CBS reports hundreds of people are expected to be targeted when the operation begins this week.
“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” Trump told reporters near the end of the lengthy Cabinet meeting. He added, “Their country is no good for a reason..., and we don’t want them in our country.”
He urged Somalis to “go back to where they came from and fix it,” criticising Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who emigrated from Somalia in 1995 as a child.
Trump criticises Rep. Ilhan Omar
For years, Trump has criticised Rep. Omar, but last week picked up the pace of his attacks on Somalis on social media after Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist, published unsubstantiated allegations in a magazine, citing unnamed sources, that money stolen from Minnesota programs has gone to al-Shabab. This al-Qaeda-linked militant group controls parts of Somalia.
In a social media post, Trump vowed to send Somalis “back to where they came from” and alleged Minnesota, one of the largest Somali communities in the US, is “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
He specifically pledged to terminate temporary legal protections for Somalis living in Minnesota, a move that is triggering fear in the state’s deeply rooted immigrant community, along with doubts about whether the White House has the legal authority to enact the directive as described.
On Tuesday, Omar punched back at Trump on social media, saying, “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”
Trump's decision to terminate temporary legal protections for Somalis living in Minnesota received immediate pushback from some state leaders and immigration experts, who characterised his announcement as a legally dubious effort to sow suspicion toward Minnesota’s Somali community.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Trump’s message “wrong” and said Somali immigrants have helped improve his community.
The move would affect only a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of Somalis living in Minnesota. A report produced for Congress in August put the number of Somalis covered by Temporary Protected Status nationwide at just 705.
Somalis have been coming to Minnesota and other states, often as refugees, since the 1990s. Trump made no distinction between citizens and non-citizens.