Minnesota Leaders Rally Against Trump's Somali TPS Termination
Minnesota officials and community organisers are preparing to challenge former President Donald Trump's announcement that he would end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis living specifically in Minnesota. The controversial move, announced via Truth Social on Friday, has been met with widespread condemnation and legal scrutiny.
In his social media post, Trump declared he would be "terminating, effective immediately" the protected status for Somalis in Minnesota, describing the state as a "hub of fraudulent money laundering activity" and demanding "Send them back to where they came from. It's OVER!"
Community Response and Legal Challenges
Community advocates have strongly rejected what they describe as inaccurate rhetoric that unfairly smears all Somalis and puts the community at risk. There are growing concerns about increased targeting for immigration enforcement and broader demonisation of Somali residents.
The announcement follows several high-profile fraud cases involving state programs, including some involving Somali residents, which have been extensively covered by right-wing media. A recent media piece alleged these fraudulent activities meant Minnesota taxpayers were funding terrorist groups in Somalia - a claim subsequently elevated by Minnesota's Republican congressional members in a letter seeking investigation.
Keith Ellison, Minnesota's Attorney General, stated his office was "exploring all of our options" to respond if Trump follows through with removing TPS. On social media platform X, Ellison wrote: "Trump's announcement of termination of Somali TPS holders in Minnesota is legally problematic - while a president does have a lot of authority to designate and revoke TPS, he cannot legally wield that power to discriminate against an ethnic group or to target a state, like MN. This ain't over."
Questionable Legal Grounds
Legal experts have raised significant questions about the legality of Trump's proposed action. Typically, the removal of Temporary Protected Status applies nationwide rather than targeting a single state like Minnesota. This state-specific approach, seemingly unrelated to Somalia's actual stability conditions, makes the move legally questionable.
Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, pointed out the fundamental flaw in Trump's reasoning: "Obviously, fraud investigations in the United States do not have anything to do with whether conditions in Somalia have stabilized or not."
Temporary Protected Status allows individuals from countries with unsafe or unstable conditions to live legally in the United States. The program is administered through the Department of Homeland Security, which has so far not removed Somalia from the list of countries covered by TPS. Somalia has been covered by TPS since 1991, with the status receiving extensions dozens of times over the decades.
Minnesota's Somali Community Responds
Minnesota is home to the nation's largest Somali population, with most community members being US citizens. The TPS program currently protects approximately 700 people from Somalia residing across the United States from deportation - a relatively small number compared to the tens of thousands of Somalis living in Minnesota.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a frequent target for Trump and his allies, responded to supporters of Trump's announcement on X: "I am a citizen and so are majority of Somalis in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn't have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate. We are here to stay."
Khalid Omar, an organiser with interfaith group ISAIAH, emphasised the importance of individual accountability versus collective punishment: "If anyone, regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity, committed fraud, they should be held accountable under the law as individuals. Collective punishment is wrong and racist, and using the actions of a few people to attack an entire community is un-American."
The community organised a potluck gathering this weekend in response to Trump's targeting, where members of the Somali community joined with neighbours and supporters to show solidarity. Organisers described Somalis in Minnesota as the "backbone of this community" who experience the same struggles as all Americans.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz suggested Trump's targeting of Somalis serves as a distraction from more pressing issues, writing on X: "It's not surprising that the President has chosen to broadly target an entire community. This is what he does to change the subject."
As Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem evaluates whether to extend Somalia's TPS designation before it expires in March, community advocates emphasise that standing together remains their strongest defence. "The only thing that we know that can stop this administration from attacking people is for everyday people to stand up and to push back on this narrative," one organiser stated.
