Trump Escalates Rhetoric Against Somali Immigrants Amid Planned Minnesota Enforcement

President Donald Trump has expressed a strong desire for Somali immigrants to return to their home country, stating his belief they should “go back to where they came from.” The President made these remarks during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, asserting that the United States would “go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

These disparaging comments coincide with reports of an impending enforcement operation by immigration authorities targeting the significant Somali community in Minnesota. Officials within the state have voiced strong opposition to the proposed plan, cautioning that it could inadvertently sweep up American citizens who might be perceived as being from the East African nation. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are home to the largest Somali population in the United States.

“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” President Trump declared during the televised meeting, adding, “Somebody will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country.” He further characterized Somalia as “barely a country,” stating, “they just run around killing each other. There’s no structure.”

Millenium TV has learned that the Trump administration has directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to focus on undocumented Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities, with an operation potentially starting this week and hundreds of individuals expected to be targeted. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, declined to comment on specific operations but denied that any individual would be targeted based on race. “What makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin explained.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey publicly commented that an ICE operation of this nature “means due process will be violated.” Local leaders estimate approximately 80,000 people of Somali origin reside in the area, with the vast majority holding American citizenship.

The President’s remarks represent an intensification of his recent criticisms directed at Minnesota’s Somali community and its Democratic political figures. Previously, President Trump pledged to revoke the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) — a program for immigrants from crisis-stricken nations — for Somali residents in Minnesota, a status that has been in place since 1991 due to conflict in Somalia. A few hundred immigrants would be impacted by such an order.

This broadening of President Trump’s immigration crackdown follows a shooting last week in Washington D.C., which resulted in the death of National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and serious injury to Andrew Wolfe, 24. The alleged perpetrator was an Afghan who entered the U.S. in 2021 through a program for those who assisted U.S. troops in Afghanistan. However, President Trump did not explicitly link this incident to his comments regarding Somalis.

In related developments, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested her agency would target visa fraud in Minnesota, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an investigation into allegations of state tax dollars potentially being diverted to the al-Shabab Islamist militant group in Somalia.

President Trump also took aim at Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat and the first Somali-American elected to Congress, describing her as “incompetent” and stating, “I always watch her. She hates everybody.” Representative Omar responded publicly, asserting, “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”

Responding to the administration’s broader narrative, Somali State Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Omar, without directly naming the U.S. President, posted that “It has become too easy for some to use Somalia as a scapegoat or distraction from their own failures.” Similarly, Minnesota State Senator Zaynab Mohamed stated that ICE agents interacting with Somalis in the state “will find what we’ve been saying for years: Almost all of us are US citizens.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, also weighed in, saying, “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.”