Washington, D.C. – President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is “immediately” terminating temporary legal protections for Somali migrants, a move that impacts a small number of residents but targets Minnesota’s large Somali community with sweeping claims of criminal activity. The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, created by Congress in 1990, shields people from deportation if their home countries face war, natural disasters, or other unsafe conditions. A congressional report from August estimated only 705 Somalis nationwide are covered by TPS.
Trump made the announcement on his social media platform, calling Minnesota “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and alleging that “Somali gangs are terrorizing” the state — statements for which he provided no evidence. He ended the message by writing, “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Minnesota, home to the country’s largest Somali population, includes thousands who arrived fleeing civil war and were drawn by robust refugee support programs. Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-Minnesota, condemned the move as a “political attack” driven by Islamophobic rhetoric that will “tear families apart.”
Trump has repeatedly vowed to intensify deportations and has rolled back multiple humanitarian protections. His administration has already moved to end TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians granted protections under President Biden, as well as reduce protections for migrants from Cuba and Syria.
TPS designations are authorized by the Homeland Security secretary and renewed in 18-month increments, but Trump’s decision signals a renewed push toward hardline immigration changes heading into the election cycle.
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