President Donald Trump announced Friday night he is ending a special program for Somali nationals in Minnesota which partially shields them from deportation.
The president, in a Friday night Truth Social post, said he was “terminating, effective immediately” the federal government’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for the tens of thousands of Somali immigrants living in the Democratic-leaning midwestern state. Trump also took aim at Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, claiming that the state under Walz’s leadership had become a hotbed of money laundering and violence from Somali gangs.
“Minnesota, under Governor Waltz [sic], is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota,” Trump wrote.
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!” the president continued.
Minnesota’s Somali community channelled “untold millions” of taxpayer dollars to Al-Shabaab, a radical Islamic terrorist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda and based in the East African nation, City Journal reported Nov. 19, citing anonymous former Minnesota officials with law enforcement connections.
A jury convicted an Al-Shaabab member in 2024 of conspiring to commit a planned 9/11-style terror attack.
Minnesota had an estimated Somali population of 79,000, the largest of any American state, according to 2019-2023 statistics compiled by Minnesota Compass. Of this group, a majority — 55.8% — were foreign-born, with 78.1% living in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minnesota’s Somali community is by far.
“It’s not surprising that the President has chosen to broadly target an entire community. This is what he does to change the subject,” Walz, the failed 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, wrote on X shortly after Trump’s post attacking him.
Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia, responded to Trump’s announcement stating she and other Somali Americans are here to stay.
“I am a citizen and so are majority of Somalis in America,” Omar wrote in a Friday night X post. “Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate.”
I am a citizen and so are majority of Somalis in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate. We are here to stay
♀️ https://t.co/JHSO3PKL6O
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 22, 2025
Should the government maintain Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota?
♀️ The congresswoman, a prominent figure on the Democratic Party’s left flank, fled Somalia amid its civil war at the age of nine and was eventually granted asylum in the U.S. at the age of 12, along with her family.
Democratic Minnesota State Sen. Omar Fateh, a socialist who lost his Nov. 4 bid to become Minneapolis’s mayor, also responded to Trump’s Truth Social post on X late Friday night.
“The president does not have the authority to terminate this program on his own, but I’m sure he’s hoping this will distract you from the 1500 times he’s mentioned in the Epstein Files,” Fateh wrote, his first post on the platform since conceding the mayoral election 16 days earlier.
The far-left politician was born in Washington, D.C. to Somali immigrant parents.
The president does not have the authority to terminate this program on his own, but I’m sure he’s hoping this will distract you from the 1500 times he’s mentioned in the Epstein Files. pic.twitter.com/AVeEse1STP
— Omar Fateh (@OmarFatehMN) November 22, 2025
Once granted TPS, “an individual also cannot be detained by DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] on the basis of his or her immigration status in the United States,” the website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reads. Somalia is one of a dozen countries with TPS designation, according to the agency.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a foreign country for TPS due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately,” it continues.
Minnesota has not voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1972, the longest such streak of any state. It last elected a Republican governor in 2006. Walz is running for a third term in 2026, having reportedly passed on a 2028 presidential run.
When asked for additional comment, the White House referred the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) to Trump’s Truth Social post. Walz’s office did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for additional comment.
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