U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out against Somali immigrants Tuesday, calling them “garbage” who “contribute nothing” to the country.
“Their country stinks,” Trump said in a White House news conference. “They just run around killing each other.
“We don’t want them in our country.”
His crude language came soon after a person familiar with the planning said federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S.
The same day, the Trump administration said it paused all immigration applications, including green card and U.S. citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries, citing concerns over national security and public safety. Those countries included Afghanistan and Somalia.
An estimated 260,000 people of Somali descent were living in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The largest population is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to about 84,000 residents, most of whom are American citizens.
But why is Trump going after immigrants from the war-torn East African country and their descendants? What else has he said? And what’s the reaction been so far? Let’s break it down.
What did Trump say?
Trump has often used this kind of rhetoric and racist language throughout his political career, notably saying, for instance, that Haitian immigrants eat cats and dogs and once referring to African nations as “shithole countries.”
But he’s become increasingly focused in recent weeks on Somalis living in the U.S., saying they “have caused a lot of trouble.”
U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his remarks on Somalis, saying their community ‘destroyed our country,’ as ICE steps up activity in Minnesota, targeting undocumented Somali migrants.
Somalis have been fleeing the Horn of Africa nation for decades, ever since the fall of dictator Siad Barre led to clashes between warlords, wider civil war and the rise of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab extremist group.
On Tuesday, the U.S. president called Somalia “barely a country,” adding, “they have no anything.”
“I don’t want them in our country,” Trump said. “I’ll be honest with you, OK? Somebody will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. Their country’s no good for a reason.”
“We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” he said.
He specifically disparaged Minnesota’s large Somali community, saying “I see these people ripping it off.”
Trump also went on a tirade against Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, calling her “garbage” and saying, “her friends are garbage.”
“These are people that do nothing but complain,” he said.
He admitted he doesn’t know Omar at all but that he “always” watches her.
“And I think she’s an incompetent person. She’s a real terrible person,” Trump said.
Last month, Trump said he was terminating temporary protected status for Somali migrants in Minnesota, a legal safeguard against deportation.
Why is Trump singling out Somalis?
Trump and other administration officials stepped up their criticism after a conservative news outlet claimed that taxpayer dollars from defrauded government programs have flowed to the militant group al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda that controls parts of Somalia and often has targeted the capital, Mogadishu.
While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post Monday that his agency is investigating whether “hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization,” little evidence has emerged so far to prove a link.
Federal prosecutors have not charged any of the dozens of defendants in recent public program fraud cases in Minnesota with providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations.
At the same time, local Somali community leaders, as well as allies such as Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have pushed back against those who might blame the broader Somali community for some recent cases of massive fraud in public programs.
Those include what is known as the Feeding Our Future scandal, which federal prosecutors say was the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud case. It involved a program meant to feed children during the pandemic.
The defendants were accused of fraudulently claiming to be delivering millions of meals to children. While the alleged ringleader was white, many of the defendants were Somalis, and most of them were U.S. citizens.
How have people responded to Trump’s comments?
Omar responded Wednesday, calling his “obsession” with her and the Somali community “creepy and unhealthy.”
“We are not, and I am not, someone to be intimidated, and we are not going to be scapegoated,” she told reporters.
Somalia’s prime minister, asked at a public event Wednesday about Trump’s statements, did not comment. But according to the New York Times, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre told an audience at an innovation summit in Mogadishu that “we are not the only country that Trump insults.”
“Sometimes, it’s better not to respond,” he said, according to the Times, which cited a local media network.
The Minnesota state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), posted a statement Wednesday saying that the community had seen “a sharp and troubling increase in ICE activity targeting Somali Minnesotans” in the last several days.
“What we are seeing is not normal immigration enforcement. It is political targeting,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-Minnesota.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Hussein called Trump’s attack “unfair” and disappointing.
“It’s really weaponizing this fear against our community,” he said.
What have local politicians said?
Several city leaders in Minneapolis spoke out Tuesday, saying they stand with Somali residents.
“Minneapolis is proud to be home to the largest Somali community in the country,” Mayor Jacob Frey said in a news conference and online statement.
“They are our neighbours, our friends, and our family – and they are welcome in our city. Nothing Donald Trump does will ever change that.”
CAIR’s Washington state chapter posted a statement Wednesday called Trump’s statements “vile.”
“Washington proudly holds one of the largest Somali American populations in the nation, and President Trump’s comments are an insult to not only that community, but all immigrants,” Imraan Siddiqi, CAIR-WA’s executive director, said in the statement.
And in Somalia? Abdisalan Omar, an elder in his community in central Somalia, told Reuters he was shocked by Trump’s crude language.
“The world should respond,” he said. “Presidents who speak in such a way cannot serve the U.S. and the world.”
Bule Ismail, a 45-year-old construction worker in the capital, Mogadishu, told Reuters, “in our culture, we do not use vile language.
“It is incumbent upon the U.S. and its people to take measures and to be angry with Trump first, then take Trump to a mental hospital for checkup.”
What are the links to terror groups?
Authorities in Minnesota struggled for years to stem the recruiting of young Somali men by ISIS and the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabaab.
The problem first surfaced in 2007, when more than 20 young men went to Somalia, where Ethiopian troops propping up a weak UN-backed government were seen by many as foreign invaders.
While most of those cases were resolved years ago, another came to light earlier this year. A 23-year-old defendant pleaded guilty in September to attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
ISIS also found recruits in Minnesota’s Somali community, mostly in the 2010s, with authorities saying roughly a dozen left to join militants in Syria during that time.
