WASHINGTON (Somaliguardian) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered some of his most caustic remarks yet about Somali immigrants in the United States, declaring he does not want them in the country and asserting they should “go back to where they came from,” even as federal authorities reportedly prepare a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota’s large Somali community.
“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said near the end of a lengthy, televised cabinet meeting. “I don’t want them in our country. … With Somalia, which is barely a country, you know, they have no, they have no anything. They just run around killing each other. There’s no structure.”
The president also renewed his attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat and first Somali-American elected to Congress, suggesting she “hates everybody” and calling her “an incompetent person.” Omar responded on social media: “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”
The remarks came as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been directed to carry out a sweep focusing on undocumented Somali nationals in the Twin Cities, a person familiar with the planning told CBS News. Hundreds of individuals are expected to be targeted, according to the source. The New York Times first reported the planned operation.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined to discuss operational details but rejected assertions that any effort would hinge on race or ethnicity. “What makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
Local officials, however, warned that such a sweep could trample civil liberties in a community where an estimated 80,000 residents trace their origins to Somalia – the vast majority of them U.S. citizens.
“In an operation by ICE, due process will be violated,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference, echoing concerns that the effort could ensnare lawful residents who merely “appear” to be from the East African nation.
Minnesota leaders across the political spectrum condemned the prospect of an indiscriminate enforcement blitz. State Sen. Zaynab Mohamed wrote on X: “When ICE agents interact with Somalis here, they will find what we’ve been saying for years: Almost all of us are US citizens.”
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, recently the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, faulted the administration for politicizing immigration enforcement. “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime,” Walz said. “But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.”
The administration’s hardening posture follows the fatal shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week. The suspect — originally from Afghanistan — has been charged with murder. Trump has cited the attack as justification for intensified immigration actions, including a recent pledge to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali nationals in Minnesota, a move that could affect several hundred people.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday also signaled escalated scrutiny of visa fraud in the state.
Somalia, long plagued by civil conflict and economic collapse, saw a wave of refugees flee in the 1990s. Minnesota’s Somali community has since grown into one of the largest and most civically engaged diaspora populations in the U.S. – a fact local leaders say underscores the harm of sweeping generalizations from the nation’s top officeholder.
Trump, however, showed no sign of tempering his rhetoric. “Somebody will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care,” he told reporters. “I don’t want them in our country.”
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