ICE operations targeting Somali immigrants underway in Twin Cities | Live updates

Inspire Change Clinic opened its doors in Minneapolis with a simple mission: provide access to marginalized communities. 

On Thursday afternoon, the clinic should have been bustling with a waiting room filled with families. Instead, the clinic was empty. 

"My patients are canceling. They're afraid to come out of their home," said Munira Maalimisaq, nurse practitioner and founder of Inspire Change Clinic.

That fear isn't contained to just this clinic; it can be seen in restaurants sitting half-empty.

[Read more here] 

Hola Arepa in Minneapolis was heading into dinner rush Wednesday night, when two plain-clothed individuals entered the restaurant, saying they're from the Department of Homeland Security, General Manager Naomi Rathke said.

"Whipped out a badge really quickly and then flashed a photo of someone on their phone, and then they said, 'We're looking for this person.'" Rathke said. "I said, 'This person doesn't work here.' They had said, 'Well, we see her in the back right now.' And I said, 'That person is not here.'"

Rathke refused to let the men into the restaurant's back of house.

[See more here]  

Community members came together for a prayer service in Cedar-Riverside to support Somalis on Thursday afternoon.

"We come here before you today with hearts united in love and concern for our Somali kin," said Minister Amber Jones of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara attended the service, saying that "the reality is, people are in pain in our community here."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called President Trump's xenophobic statements about the Somali community "vile, racist lies and slander towards our fellow Minnesotans."

"Donald Trump's calling our Somali neighbors garbage and the state of Minnesota hellhole I'm assuming is unprecedented for a United States president," Walz said. "We've got little children going to school today who their president called them garbage."

Walz called on other politicians to denounce Trump's invective.

"Anyone in this state, especially elected officials, who are unable to condemn this vile attack on our neighbors and our state, you are complicit in it," Walz said. "And it will not stand in Minnesota."

The governor closed his comments on the matter by issuing a message of support to the community.

"So I tell our Somali neighbors, I tell our Hmong neighbors, I tell all of our neighbors, in Minnesota, you're respected. You are valued," he said. "We're proud of this state that ranks near the top in almost every single category. And I will tell you the only thing that's hurting this state, as he so falsely claimed to a group of people, is Donald Trump himself."

Even for a president who has long made clear he's no fan of Somalia, the latest round of White House contempt was a shock Wednesday in the country's largest Somali community.

"They contribute nothing. I don't want them in our country," President Donald Trump told reporters during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting. "We can go one way or the other, and we're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country."

Hamse Warfa, a Somali-born entrepreneur who now lives in the Minneapolis area, sees things differently.

"I am not garbage," said Warfa, who has started a series of successful businesses and now runs a nationwide education nonprofit, World Savvy. "I'm a proud American citizen."

He notes that anti-immigration rhetoric has long been a powerful political tool, such as the Haitian migrants in Ohio who Trump vilified ahead of the 2024 elections.

"Last presidential election it was the Haitians and how they eat cats and dogs," he said. "The next iteration now is Somalis."

Refugees from the East African nation have been coming to the frigid plains of Minnesota since the 1990s, drawn in part by the state's generous social services and then by the ever-growing diaspora community.

They have become fixtures in the Twin Cities, opening businesses and revitalizing neighborhoods of empty storefronts. They are also increasingly politically prominent, serving in the state Legislature and on the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar — a regular target of Trump, who on Tuesday singled her out as "garbage" — serves in the U.S. House.

Over the past few years they have also struggled with being typecast after dozens of people, many of them Somalis, were arrested in connection with schemes to defraud social service agencies of what some officials say could total hundreds of millions of dollars. Many of the arrested Somalis are U.S. citizens.

Last week, Trump called Minnesota "a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity" after a report by a conservative activist said fraud money flowed to the militant group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaida that controls parts of Somalia. But there has been little, if any, evidence, showing such a link, and federal prosecutors have not charged any defendants with supporting terrorists.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan appeared on CNN Wednesday morning, saying the increased federal presence in the Twin Cities is spreading fear and making the community less safe.

"They're coming in quickly, scooping people up. We're hearing reports of that from folks on the ground, but really what this is all about is striking fear into the hearts of Minnesotans," she said.

In the three-minute interview, Flanagan noted that the majority of Somalis in Minnesota are citizens who are in the country legally, and accused the Trump administration from removing public safety resources from Minnesota.

"Ultimately, I think it's about distraction from the failed record of Donald Trump. People are deeply concerned right now about the cost of living. He doesn't want to talk about that, he wants to distract us. Conversation has started about war crimes this week. 'Oh, let's find an entire group of people to demonize,'" she said. "This is his playbook, and it's making us all less safe."

In the heart of Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, DFL lawmakers condemned attacks on the Somali community while addressing the growing fear and arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Almost every person living here is a citizen," said state Sen. Zaynab Mohamed.

Many Somali families fled civil war, seeking an opportunity and a brighter future for their children, including Sumeya Mohamud's family. 

"I was born in Kenya, grew up here, went through schooling from kindergarten to now college here in Minnesota," Mohamud said. "This is all I know."

[See more here]

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that half of the visas in Minnesota are "fraudulent," a claim made during President Trump's last cabinet meeting of the year.

Noem did not provide further evidence. CBS Minnesota on Wednesday reached out to the department seeking that data. A spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for comment. 

Ana Pottraz Acosta, a visiting professor at the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School, said Noem's figure "doesn't sound plausible." She added that the rate of immigration fraud is relatively low overall because the penalties for doing so are serious. 

"If you file an application that is fraudulent, it results in a bar for you being able to get any other immigration benefits in the future," she explained.

[Read more here.]

The Minnesota DFL Party says they are making the state's values "unmistakably clear" after President Trump called Somali people "garbage." The party released the following statement.  

"The reported ramp up of ICE operations disappearing people from Minnesota streets is exactly the kind of targeting of human beings our state rejects. Minnesotans don't stand for this," said Chair Richard Carlbom. "It's a distraction from the Trump Administration's failure to make life affordable for Americans. When one community is targeted, Minnesotans should take notice. We stand with our Somali community and every family facing this threat."

A federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota started after President Trump heard about dozens of federal convictions and the ongoing fraud cases in the state. The price tag on the fraud cases totals more than $1 billion.

These cases date back to 2022, but investigators say that there are still more indictments to come, not to mention dozens of suspects charged now still waiting to be tried.

There are three separate fraud cases involving federal tax dollars in Minnesota. The biggest of those is the Feeding Our Future case, alongside similar programs set up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic response under the guise of giving meals to kids, meals that were never actually served.

In that ring, 87 people have been charged, and 61 convicted so far.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday signed an executive order prohibiting federal, state and local agencies from using city-owned parking lots for immigration enforcement operations.

"Minneapolis is — and will remain — a city that stands up for our residents," said Mayor Jacob Frey. "City parking lots need to be used for City purposes, which do not include civil immigration enforcement. There's no place in our Minneapolis for fear-based tactics or operations that undermine community trust."

According to the mayor's office, federal authorities in Chicago used municipal lots for immigration enforcement purposes before the city issued a similar executive order. 

Under the order, Minneapolis-owned lots and parking ramps must feature signs that that state that immigration enforcement is prohibited on the lot and report any violation of the executive order. 

The directive also instructs city staff to create signs that local businesses and property owners can use to signal that their property cannot be used for enforcement.

Local leaders Wednesday denounced enhanced federal action in the Twin Cities and urged the community to take steps to stay safe.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the president's actions "dangerous" and "racist."

CAIR leaders said most Somalis in Minnesota are citizens or legal permanent residents. The number of undocumented Somalis in the state is "very, very small," according to Hussein, who also said ICE enforcement will "be actually used as a weapon to terrorize the community, but not actually even do what they claim to be doing."

"We fully expect to see citizens and lawful permanent residents to be harassed and detained by ICE agents," Alec Shaw, CAIR's civil rights director, said.

CAIR encouraged Somali Americans to know their legal rights and contact their attorney if they are actively involved in the immigration process. 

Almost 58% of the Somalis in Minnesota were born in the U.S. and of the foreign-born Somalis there, 87% are naturalized U.S. citizens. 

According to Census data, there are just over 100,000 Somali people living in the state, with a majority of them living in the Twin Cities area. 

Here's what to know about Somalia, which is also one of the countries where the Trump administration this week paused all immigration applications. The country's prime minister, asked at a public event Wednesday about Trump's statements, did not comment.