Trump Ends Deportation Protections for Somalis in Minnesota

The president eliminated the Temporary Protected Status effective immediately, citing Somali gangs and ‘billions’ in missing funds.

President Donald Trump announced on Nov. 21 that he was immediately rescinding temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota.

“I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing,” he wrote, suggesting that Minnesota was “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”

The Biden administration renewed Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2023 for more than 2,600 Somalis, citing conflict in their home country. The extension was effective for 18 months and included work authorization.

A report produced for Congress in August put the number of Somalis now covered by the program at 705 nationwide as of March.

Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest Somali population, at about 87,000, according to census data.

Congress created the program granting TPS in 1990. It was meant to prevent deportations of people to countries affected by natural disasters, civil strife, or other dangerous conditions.

The Trump administration has attempted to terminate several countries’ TPS designations, highlighting the temporary nature of the program and saying it was never meant to be a permanent means for foreign nationals to remain in the country.

That included ending TPS for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians, as well as limiting protections previously extended to people from Cuba and Syria.

Trump also indefinitely suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program on his first day in office in 2025.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said on Nov. 21 that Trump’s decision “will tear families apart.” Its executive director, Jaylani Hussein, said in a statement, “This is not just a bureaucratic change; it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric.”

Minnesota is also considered one of the top areas for recruiting young men for foreign terrorist organizations such as the ISIS terrorist group, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. In the past decade, at least several dozen young Somali males from Minnesota have tried to join such groups in Somalia and Syria.

The 2016 stabbing of nine people at a mall in St. Cloud prompted further concerns of potential local terrorism. ISIS claimed responsibility for the incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.