Trump attacks Somali community

Rachel Leingang

In a cabinet meeting on Tuesdya, Trump went off on Somalis and Ilhan Omar, the congressional representative who is from Somalia and is a US citizen. He said Somalia “stinks” and is “no good for a reason”.

“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” he said. He called Omar “garbage” and said “we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country”.

“These are people who do nothing but complain,” he said. “They complain, and from where they came from, they got nothing … 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.”

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area, where most Somalis reside, would see stepped-up deportation efforts this week, focusing primarily on Somalis who have final deportation orders.

It would use “strike teams” of ICE agents and other federal officers, bringing in about 100 agents from across the country, the Times reported. Other media outlets, including the Associated Press, have confirmed the reporting.

The move comes after the right has seized on several fraud cases, spanning multiple years, that involve dozens of Somali residents who prosecutors allege lied to the state to receive reimbursements for meal disbursements, medical care, housing and autism services. The Trump administration previously threatened to revoke temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota, citing the state as a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity”.

Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, also announced on Monday that his agency would be investigating whether taxpayer dollars from Minnesotans had “been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab”, sharing a recent story from a rightwing outlet that made such claims.