Though president’s order is legally questionable, advocates worry community could be targeted for immigration raids
Though president’s order is legally questionable, advocates worry community could be targeted for immigration raids
In the days since the president said he would be ending a legal immigration status program for Somalis in Minnesota, local elected officials and community members said they will fight back.
On Truth Social on Friday, Trump wrote that he would be “terminating, effective immediately” temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota. Trump wrote that Minnesota was a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity”. “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!” he wrote.
Community advocates said the rhetoric smearing all Somalis is inaccurate and puts them at risk. They worry about increased targeting for immigration enforcement and demonization of the Somali community.
The move comes after several high-profile instances of fraud in state programs including by Somali residents, which rightwing media have amplified. A recent piece alleged these fraudulent activities meant Minnesota taxpayers were funding terrorist groups in Somalia. Minnesota’s Republican members of Congress then elevated that claim a letter seeking an investigation.
“If anyone, regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity, committed fraud, they should be held accountable under the law as individuals,” Khalid Omar, an organizer with interfaith group ISAIAH, said. “Collective punishment is wrong and racist, and using the actions of a few people to attack an entire community is un-American.”
TPS allows people from countries with unsafe or unstable conditions to live legally in the US.
