Former President Donald Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage” during a cabinet meeting Tuesday, saying they should be sent home. His remarks, which also targeted Somali-American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, came as multiple news outlets reported a surge in immigration enforcement targeting undocumented Somalis in Minnesota.
Trump stated Somalia “stinks” and claimed its people “contribute nothing.” He labeled Omar “garbage” and said, “we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.” He further asserted, “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.”
According to reports by The New York Times and the Associated Press, federal “strike teams” of about 100 ICE agents are focusing on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area this week to deport Somalis with final removal orders. The move follows political attention on fraud cases in Minnesota, where prosecutors allege dozens of Somali residents lied to obtain state benefits. The Trump administration has previously called Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and threatened to revoke Somalis' Temporary Protected Status.
In a related development, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said his agency would probe claims that Minnesotan tax dollars were diverted to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, sharing a right-wing media story.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey responded to the enforcement reports with a press conference, pledging support for the Somali community. He emphasized that local police do not assist in immigration operations. “To our Somali community, we love you and we stand with you. That commitment is rock solid,” Frey said. He warned that “Targeting Somali people means that due process will be violated... and let’s be clear, it means that American citizens will be detained for no other reason than they look Somali.” Minneapolis is home to roughly 80,000 Somalis, most of whom are U.S. citizens or legal residents.
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Source: THE GUARDIAN
