Why are Trump and far-right commentators going after Minnesota's Somali community?

In recent days, US President Donald Trump has ramped up his usual aggressive comments against Somali immigrants in Minnesota, calling Somali migrants “garbage” and saying they “do nothing but complain.” He insists they should “go back where they came from.” 

The president has increased his attacks on Somalis in the US since last week's shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, a shooting that killed one of the troops and for which an Afghan national has been charged. 

At the same time, federal immigration enforcement is preparing a crackdown. 

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is launching an “intensive immigration enforcement operation” targeting dozens or hundreds of Somalis in the Twin Cities region. 

About 80,000 Somalis live in Minnesota, mostly in the Twin Cities metro region.

ICE will deploy about 100 officers from across the country to support the operation, which will primarily focus on Somali immigrants with outstanding deportation orders.

Most Somali-Americans in the Minneapolis–St Paul region are either citizens, permanent residents or hold other legal status.

Trump has also moved to revoke protections for many in the community. He ended the special legal status (Temporary Protected Status, TPS) for Somalis, citing broad and vaguely defined claims of “fraudulent money laundering activity.” 

These moves have raised deep alarm among Somali-Americans, local officials, and civil‑rights advocates, not only because of the direct legal impact, but because of an atmosphere of broad demonisation of an entire community.

The ‘fraud and terrorism’ narrative

The recent targeting builds on longstanding allegations that a subset of the Somali community in Minnesota was involved in welfare and pandemic-relief fraud, with claims that some of the proceeds ended up funding Al-Shabab — a violent terror group that the Somali state and its people have suffered from for years.

Key claims include that many of the fraud defendants in recent large‑scale welfare and pandemic‑relief cases are Somali Americans and that some of the money obtained fraudulently was allegedly transferred overseas through informal networks (typically used by the Somali diaspora), then funnelled to Al-Shabab. 

This claim, repeated widely in right‑wing media, has been used to paint Somali immigrants as security threats.

Another claim is that Minnesota has become a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” according to some articles amplified by conservative commentators, and therefore deserves sweeping measures, including ending TPS and increasing deportations. 

On this basis, advocates like Christopher F Rufo and outlets sympathetic to his arguments have publicly pushed for harsh crackdowns and helped shape the narrative that Somalis in Minnesota pose both a fiscal burden and a security risk to the US.

Why this narrative is dangerous

Although dozens of people have been charged in fraud cases, the majority are US citizens, not recent immigrants.

Federal prosecutors, despite being familiar with past terrorism‑linked prosecutions, did not bring any terrorism‑financing charges in the latest fraud cases, suggesting a lack of evidence that the stolen money was sent to or used by Al‑Shabab.

According to local critics, the claims linking Somali remittances to terrorism ignore the fact that many Somalis in diaspora send money home legally and for social support, often via informal networks (like hawalas) that pre‑date these allegations.

The broader effect is a wave of Islamophobia and xenophobia. By framing all Somali immigrants as fraudsters or potential terrorists, the narrative casts suspicion on an entire ethnic and religious community rather than focusing on individuals accused of criminal wrongdoing.

Critics say that while fraud, like in any community, should be pursued, conflating that with terrorism funding and using it to target an entire community is irresponsible, discriminatory, and damaging.

Why this narrative serves broader political aims

Several factors make the Somali community in Minnesota a convenient target.

The Somali‑American community is concentrated in certain neighbourhoods; many are immigrants, refugees, or have close ties to Somalia, which makes them more visible as a group.

High‑profile fraud cases provide a grabby headline, which some activists and commentators exploit to generalise about the entire community. 

That in turn fuels fear, prejudice and supports political goals of tough immigration enforcement.

For political actors who want to tap into anti‑immigrant sentiment, framing a minority community as fiscally draining and a security threat checks both boxes. 

Targeting a mostly Muslim, immigrant community also feeds into nativist or Islamophobic narratives, which can galvanise certain voter bases.

By pushing for broad measures like ending TPS, deportations, and aggressive ICE enforcement, the rhetoric moves from “punish individuals who commit fraud” to “punish the whole community.” 

The backlash

Local elected officials and city leaders in Minnesota have publicly condemned the targeting of Somalis.

Officials in Minneapolis said on Tuesday they were not aware of imminent federal immigration raids targeting the area’s Somali community.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, responding to the report in The New York Times that upward of 100 federal immigration agents were poised to descend on his city and neighbouring St Paul to target undocumented Somali residents, said, regardless of whether raids were coming, the Somali community would be supported in every way possible by local authorities. 

Frey, a Democrat, said local police would not work with federal agents on any immigration matters, and he strongly criticised Trump’s recent attacks on the Somali community. 

“To villainise an entire group is ridiculous under any circumstances,” Frey said.

Frey said the community had been an economic and cultural boon to the area and had been living in the US for several decades. 

Trump has long used incendiary rhetoric, as well as racist and sexist language, saying on several occasions that immigrants in the US illegally are "poisoning the blood of our country."

St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, the first Black mayor of his Twin City, which is also home to many Somalis, said Trump’s attacks on that community were “racist” and “xenophobic.”

Civil‑rights groups warn that such rhetoric and policy moves could deepen social divisions, foster mistrust, and lead to civil rights abuses, especially if law enforcement is empowered to swell its immigration enforcement apparatus based on generalised suspicions.

Citing the opening words to the preamble of the US Constitution – “We the People” – as the phrase that launched the American experience, Carter said “the sacred moments in American history are the moments we’ve had to decide who the ‘we’ is, who is included.’

“Who (Trump) is attacking aren’t just Somalis – they are Somali-Americans,” Carter said. “Who he attacked is Americans.”