President Donald Trump said Friday that he is terminating temporary legal protections for Somali migrants living in Minnesota, a move that further escalates his administration’s efforts to narrow or eliminate programs shielding certain immigrants from deportation.
Minnesota is home to the largest Somali diaspora community in the United States, many of whom fled decades of conflict and humanitarian crises. But the number of people directly affected by the decision is expected to be relatively small.
A congressional research report released in August estimated that only 705 Somalis nationwide currently hold Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
The TPS program, created by Congress in 1990, allows the Department of Homeland Security to grant time-limited protection to immigrants from countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances. The designation is typically extended in 18-month increments.
Trump announced the policy change on his social media platform, alleging without evidence that Minnesota has become “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” and blaming Somali migrants for what he described as rising crime.
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing,” Trump wrote. “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Leaders in Minnesota’s Somali American community condemned the move, saying it threatens to separate families and deepen hostility toward immigrants. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called the president’s announcement “a political attack driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric.”
Executive Director Jaylani Hussein said the decision “will tear families apart” and undermine decades of work to build trust between community members and local institutions.
The announcement is the latest step in Trump’s campaign to dramatically expand deportations and reverse protections put in place by previous administrations. Since returning to office, Trump has moved to rescind TPS status for major groups, including 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians protected under President Joe Biden.
The administration has also sought to scale back similar protections for migrants from Cuba, Syria, and other countries.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to remove “millions” of undocumented immigrants and restrict humanitarian pathways into the United States.
The decision to end Somali TPS comes as part of this broader effort—though the actual number of Somalis affected is small, the political symbolism is significant for both supporters and critics.
Community advocates in Minnesota say they expect legal challenges and are urging federal agencies to clarify the implications for work authorization, pending asylum cases, and mixed-status families.
For now, uncertainty remains high in a community already navigating rising political tension and scrutiny. “This is not just a bureaucratic change,” CAIR-Minnesota said in its statement. “It is a message—one meant to intimidate an entire community.”
