Why is Trump targeting Somalia and Somalis?

President Donald Trump is facing backlash at home and abroad following his latest disparaging comments on people of Somali descent in the US.

In his characteristically crude words, Trump described people of Somali descent as ‘’garbage’’, including the famous Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of his fiercest critics.

He claimed that they "contribute nothing" to the US but ‘’have taken billions of dollars’’ to Somalia, vowing to expel them. The US President also used uncomplimentary words on Somalia itself, calling it a country that 'stinks'.

This has sparked outrage, with Somalia's Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre brushing off the comments by Trump.

"Donald Trump, the US President, has not insulted Somalia alone but also many other countries, including South Africa and Nigeria. So, sometimes, there are things we can simply 'let go,' instead of making a big deal out of it," PM Barre said at an innovation summit in Mogadishu on Wednesday.

President Trump was particularly critical of the Somali community in the US state of Minnesota, accusing them of fraud through state benefits programmes and supporting terrorism, which they vehemently deny.

Some commentators say Trump’s comments were too crude. ‘’US has had many U.S. presidents before him, Democrats and Republicans alike, and not one of them used such degrading language toward human beings. Leadership used to come with dignity, respect, and responsibility. He has lowered that standard to the ground,’’ Prof. Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad, Founder and executive director AfroAsiaInst for Strategic Studies, tells TRT Afrika.

The latest controversy comes as the Trump administration intensifies crackdown on migrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement expected to deploy officers to Minnesota focusing on Somali immigrants for potential deportation.

However, Jacob Frey, the Mayor of Minneapolis, the biggest city in Minnesota State, has defended the Somali community, saying they have made the city ‘’a better place’’ due to ‘’their hard work’’ and leadership.

 Somalis as scapegoat?

Minneapolis and St Paul, known as the Twin Cities, are home to one of the biggest Somali diaspora communities in the world and the largest in the US. 

Prof Abdisamad believes Trump’s focus on Somali Americans is a testament to their significance in the American society. ‘’If they were irrelevant, why does he obsess over them every day? The truth is that Somalis have become more visible, more organised, and more politically influential than ever,’’ he says.

According to a report by AFP, almost 58% of the Somalis in Minnesota were born in the US, and 87% of those born abroad are now naturalised US citizens, which could make their expulsion extremely difficult.

Some analysts say Trump's actions are part of his anti-immigrant policy, condescending attitude towards African countries and Islamophobia. The vast majority of the Somali Americans are Muslims.  

Prof Abdisamad advises President Trump. ‘'Somalis are here, they are strong, and they are not going anywhere. The sooner you make a deal with them the better.’’

This is not the first time he has targeted Somalia and people of Somali descent.

He once falsely claimed that the African country had no government, and added it to a US travel ban list.

Last month, Trump said he planned to scrap Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis. It's a programme allowing immigrants from countries in crisis to stay in the US.

According to Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the Republican president is using the Somali community as a scapegoat.

 Somalia on path to prosperity

President (Trump) often times resorts to very bigoted xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist rhetoric when he is trying to scapegoat and deflect from the actual failures that he has himself. He is attacking the Somali Americans community to hide the fact that he has failed to deliver on nearly all his promises,'' she says.

Millions of Somalis have fled Somalia in the past three decades due to insecurity and political instability, many of them to the US.

However, the Horn of Africa country has been making significant recovery efforts in recent years, with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pushing back on the continued stereotyped perception of the country by outsiders.

‘’Many people still look down on us, judging everything with a mindset rooted in the past through the lens of the past. They fail to see what is happening today - the progress being made, the positive changes unfolding, the hard work and efforts of Somali youth, and the Somali people as a whole. To them, we are still standing where we were yesterday, but we say; we have moved beyond yesterday,’’ President Mohamud said at the Leadership and Innovation Summit (LIS) in the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday.

‘’The Somali nation has advanced. We have stepped onto the path of development, prosperity, progress, and statehood. We are on that journey now, and soon, this journey will reach the place we have long hoped for and aspired to,’’ he stressed.