President Trump announced Friday that he will end temporary protected status for “Somalis in Minnesota” over rampant fraud in the state, which he attributed to “Somali gangs.”
“Minnesota, under Governor Waltz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota,” the president added. “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! President DJT.”
Since the 1990s, the TPS program has granted humanitarian relief to the migrants from several disaster-plagued countries.
The federal program allows migrants to enjoy temporary legal status in the US and obtain work permits.
The Biden administration extended the TPS designation for Somalis in the US in July 2024, through March 17, 2026.
As of March, there were 705 Somalis enrolled in the program. It’s unclear how many of those individuals are in Minnesota.
In an X post aimed at a detractor, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who is Somali American, noted the limited impact Trump’s announcement will have on Minnesota’s roughly 37,000 Somali-born residents.
“I am a citizen and so are majority of Somalis in America,” Omar wrote. “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.”
Trump’s move to end TPS for Somalis comes after City Journal reported that millions of dollars in taxpayer money – stolen as part of a series of massive Minnesota welfare fraud schemes – may have been funneled to Somalia-based terror group al-Shabab.
The report, citing former state fraud investigators, state lawmakers and federal counterterrorism officials, noted that the vast majority of the defendants in several of the high-profile fraud scandals are Somali or Somali American.
The money makes its way to the terror group, sometimes unintentionally, when the ill-gotten welfare funds are sent to Somalia by Somalis committing fraud in Minnesota, according to the report.
The White House, DHS and the Minnesota governor’s office did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
