A Minnesota Republican state senator wrote a letter to President Trump rebuking his comments that Somali immigrants are "garbage."

Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said he was "surprised" by the president's comments and said he made an appeal to the president to visit the state and meet members of the community directly. 

"I suggest you meet some of my Somali friends and see for yourself how they are woven into Minnesota's fabric of work, family and community," Abeler wrote. "Please join me and several dozen Somali men and women for an hour or two and see for yourself how fortunate we are to have them in our midst."

"In the meantime, please do not call them 'garbage.' No man, woman or child is more or less in the eyes of our Lord God Most High, and none of them are trash," he added. 

His letter represents the strongest reproach from a state Republican of Mr. Trump's comments during his final cabinet meeting of the year last week when he said Somali immigrants "contribute nothing" and that he did not want them in the country.

The Trump administration separately has launched several investigations into Minnesota over fraud of state government programs that have led to dozens of criminal charges and convictions. Many defendants are of Somali descent. 

"You can hold perpetrators who do harm to communities accountable without painting a broad brush on the entire community," said Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, a Somali Minnesotan. 

She praised Abeler for speaking out in defense of her community and criticized other Republicans' responses to the president, which she believes have not gone far enough in condemning his rhetoric.

She said her colleague from Anoka represents "the best" of the Republican Party. State Sen. Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis, also publicly applauded him for his letter, posting it on his social media. 

Abeler was not available for an interview on Monday. 

"I've had the opportunity to work with Senator Abeler the last three years. I'm not just a member in the Senate. I'm a Somali woman, I'm a young person, and I think for me, somebody in this work — he has shown me what it means to lead in this moment and to lead with integrity," Mohamed told WCCO in an interview. "He has always been somebody like that and I appreciate that about him. Regardless of our political differences on our issues, he's showing how to be a leader, and we need that in this moment."

At a budget briefing last week, GOP state lawmakers did not say they supported the president's characterization of Somali people, but they didn't outright denounce his comments, either. 

"We have a wonderful state with people that are actively a part of making Minnesota even better than what we know. What I will say, though, is there is not an entire community that is bad, and there's not an entire community that is good," House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said.

Sen. Eric Pratt, a Republican candidate for Congress in Minnesota's Second District, said he did not agree with how the president described Somali people. 

"We understand you can't just lump an entire community into one description," Pratt said. "We all have Somalis that live in our districts. They're our neighbors, our friends, and that's how we work down in Scott County and that's how I expect to work going forward."