Trump Opposes Somali Entry as ICE Targets Minnesota Operation

US President Donald Trump sparked controversy by saying he doesn't want Somali immigrants in the country, amid reports of an upcoming ICE operation targeting Minnesota’s large Somali community.

sarah

Dec 3, 2025 - 19:15

Trump Opposes Somali Entry as ICE Targets Minnesota Operation

US President Donald Trump has said he doesn't want Somali immigrants in the US, telling reporters they should "go back to where they came from" and that "their country is no good for some reason."

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said, "I don't want them in my country, I'll tell you the truth." Trump added that if we continue to bring garbage into our country, the US will "go down the wrong path."

His insulting remarks came amid reports that immigration officials were planning an enforcement operation in Minnesota's large Somali community.

State officials have criticized the plan, saying it could lead to the wrongful apprehension of US citizens who appear to be from the East African country.

Minneapolis and St. Paul, together known as the Twin Cities, are home to one of the largest Somali communities in the world and one of the largest in the US.

Trump's comments reflect his latest attacks on Minnesota's Somali community, whose decades-old protected status in the US he recently promised to revoke, and its Democratic leaders.

Trump also recently escalated his months-long immigration crackdown following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, last week, allegedly carried out by an Afghan who had defected to the US. Trump did not mention that incident when speaking about Somalis.

During his comments, which came at the end of an hour-long televised cabinet meeting, Trump said: "I don't want them in my country. I'll be honest with you, okay.

"Someone will say, 'Oh, that's not politically correct.' I don't care. I don't want them in my country."

He also said: "With Somalia, which is barely a country, you know, they have nothing. They just go around killing each other. There's no structure."

He then criticized Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat and the first Somali-American elected to Congress, with whom he has clashed repeatedly over the years.

Trump said, "I always keep an eye on her," adding that Omar "hates everyone. And I think she's an incompetent person."

Omar responded in a social media post, "Her obsession is scary to me." "I hope she gets the help she desperately needs."

The Trump administration has directed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to target undocumented Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities, a person familiar with the planning said Tuesday.

The official said hundreds are expected to be targeted when the operation begins this week. The New York Times first reported the operation.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, declined to comment on the planned operation and denied that anyone would be targeted based on race.

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Every day, ICE enforces the nation's laws across the country."

She added, "It's not their race or ethnicity that makes someone an ICE target, but the fact that they are in the country illegally."

At a news conference in Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey said that ICE's operation would "violate due process."

According to local leaders, approximately 80,000 people originally from Somalia live there, most of whom are American citizens.

Last month, Trump announced plans to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali residents living in Minnesota—a program for immigrants from countries in crisis. The order will affect a few hundred immigrants.

TPS for Somalis has been in place since 1991, a result of the conflict in the country.

Earlier this week, Trump's Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, suggested her agency would target visa fraud in Minnesota.

And his US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, also announced an investigation into allegations that state tax money may have been diverted to the al-Shabaab Islamist militant group in Somalia, which is part of al-Qaeda. The investigation follows unverified media reports in the US, which the government has denied.

Somalia is one of the world's poorest countries, and many migrants coming to the US left during the country's decades-long civil war in the 1990s.

Somalia's Foreign Minister, Ali Omar, on Tuesday appeared to hit back at the Trump administration's ongoing narrative.

Without naming the US president, Omar posted on X: "It's become too easy for some to use Somalia as a scapegoat or distract from their own failures."

Meanwhile, local leaders in Minnesota have directly criticized the Trump administration's alleged plans for an ICE operation.

Minnesota State Senator Zainab Mohammed said on X: "When ICE agents talk to Somalis here, they will find what we've been saying for years: almost all of us are US citizens."

Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris's running mate in the 2024 presidential election and who has been debating the president in recent days, said: "We welcome help investigating and prosecuting crime. But PR stunts and indiscriminately targeting immigrants are not real solutions."

Trump's recent immigration crackdown came to a head last week after a shooting in Washington, D.C., left National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, dead and Andrew Wolfe, 24, seriously injured.

Officials said the suspect entered the US in 2021 under a program for Afghans who served alongside US troops during their 20 years in Afghanistan and were considered at risk of retaliation after the US withdrawal.

On Tuesday, Noem said she would recommend a travel ban on several countries she claims are "flooding" criminal activity into the US.

Previously, all US decisions on asylum requests were halted, and a review of green cards issued to people migrating to the US from several countries was announced. Trump has also threatened to "permanently stop" migration from what he calls "Third World countries."