Minnesota lawmakers, advocates rally against Trump's pledge to end deportation protections for Somalis
DFL Minnesota lawmakers and other community advocates rallied in the State Capitol rotunda on Monday to condemn President Trump's pledge to end deportation protections for some Somali immigrants.
In a social media post on Friday, Mr. Trump said he would end "effective immediately" the temporary legal status for Somalia, a designation the country has had since 1991 and has been renewed in the years following. The federal program allows people to get temporary relief from removal and obtain a work authorization because the U.S. government determines certain countries are unstable due to civil unrest, violence or natural disasters.
More than 700 migrants from Somalia have Temporary Protected Status, according to the Congressional Research Service. In 2023, the year for which the most recent data is available, the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota estimated 430 Somalis in the state were afforded those protections.
"This is not about crime. It's not about safety. This is about purging people like me from this country," said State Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, at the rally Monday.
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S. with roughly 80,000 Somali Minnesotans living in the state, according to Minnesota Compass, a project of Wilder Research.
Mr. Trump, in his social media post announcing the move over the weekend, said Minnesota has become a "hub of fraudulent money laundering" and claimed "Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state and billions of dollars are missing."
Somali Minnesotans are among the nearly 80 charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, in which prosecutors say defendants stole hundreds of millions of dollars that were supposed to be used to feed hungry children during the pandemic.
Dozens have been convicted or pleaded guilty in those cases. Separately, there are other allegations of fraud plaguing other state programs like housing and autism treatment services.
"We do not blame the lawlessness of an individual on a whole community," U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat who represents Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, told the crowd at the rally. "Because if you believe in law and order, you understand that if a person commits a crime, they face justice and that you don't put that crime on a whole community."
Omar told reporters after the rally concluded that she did not believe anyone facing criminal charges for fraud has Temporary Protected Status in Minnesota.
"You have right now 57 people who have been convicted. So if your assumption is that we should all be collectively held responsible for the fact that 57 people have committed a crime and are being held accountable and are going to jail, then that's your prerogative, but we don't feel the weight of what those individuals have done, " Omar said, responding to a question about if those accused of crimes create a perception problem for the Somali community in Minnesota.
Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office is exploring its options in response to the announcement by Mr. Trump, noting there are other instances in which his administration attempted to revoke TPS designations for other countries. On Monday, the Trump administration announced it would end the protections for 4,000 immigrants from Myanmar.
"Because this isn't the first time Trump has tried a tactic like this, there are some good examples we can follow. Multiple efforts to cancel TPS holders and the first Trump term were successfully litigated," Ellison said.
In a statement, GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is also running for governor, praised President Trump for acknowledging the fraud happening in Minnesota.
"The unfortunate reality is that far too many individuals who were welcomed into this country have abused the trust and support that was extended to them, and Minnesota taxpayers have suffered billions of dollars in consequences as a result," she said. "Any individual involved in these criminal activities should be charged, held accountable, and swiftly deported if they are not lawfully present in the United States."
Ana Pottratz Acosta, visiting professor at the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School, said in an email that the president does not have the authority to end TPS protections; instead, it's the job of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — and that any decision is supposed to be a national one, not on a state-by-state basis.
The law requires, Acosta said, that the DHS secretary base the decision on conditions in the country and consult with other agencies like the State Department.
"There has to be some specific justification showing conditions have improved enough to justify ending TPS for nationals of that country," she told WCCO News.
Noem on Sunday during an unrelated visit to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport said DHS is looking into the program.
"TPS is a program that was always meant to be temporary. It's a program that was put in place, I believe, for Somalia, over 30 years ago and will need to be evaluated to make sure that it comes and is always implemented in the process for which it was intended," she said.