U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been directed by the Trump administration to target undocumented Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities, a person familiar with the planning confirmed.
A U.S. official says ICE is planning to surge resources to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to launch enforcement operations targeting individuals with deportation orders. The region has the largest population of immigrants from Somalia in the U.S., and some community members have deportation orders. The enhanced ICE operations in the Twin Cities are expected to begin this week, the official said. The operations were first reported by the New York Times. Hundreds of people are expected to be targeted, the person familiar with the planning said. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the agency would not discuss “future or potential operations.”
President Trump: “I don’t want [Somalis] in our country”
Amid reports of the planned operation, President Trump renewed attacks on Minnesota’s Somali community, Somalia and the diaspora. “They contribute nothing … I don’t want them in our country,” Trump told reporters. “That’s not politically correct, but I don’t care. I don’t want them here. Their country is no good for a reason.” In a Thanksgiving post he also called Gov. Tim Walz a slur for people with intellectual disabilities and said Somali refugees are “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota.”
Trump previously ordered green card holders from Somalia and more than a dozen other countries to be reexamined and said he would end temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota, claiming without evidence that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state.” That move would affect hundreds in the community. Trump has increasingly focused on people of Somali descent in the U.S., saying they “have caused a lot of trouble,” rhetoric community leaders say has inflamed tensions and revived fears of profiling.
On Monday evening, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced his department is investigating whether Minnesota tax money found its way to al Shabaab, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia.
Minneapolis, St. Paul leaders stand with Somali community
At a joint news conference, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman said they stand in solidarity with the metro’s Somali community.
“To our Somali community, I love you, and we stand with you. That commitment is rock solid,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. “Minneapolis is proud to be home to the largest Somali community in the entire country. They’ve been here for decades … Entrepreneurs and fathers, they benefit both the cultures and the economic resilience of our city.” Frey said the targeting of Minnesota’s Somali population “means due process will be violated.” “Mistakes will be made, and let’s be clear, it means that American citizens will be detained, for no other reason than the fact that they look like they are Somali,” Frey said. “That is not now and will never be a legitimate reason.”
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter called the administration’s actions “un-American,” saying the nation once prided itself on welcoming immigrants and warning that federal agents coming to town risked creating chaos and division. “The last thing that we need is federal agents coming to town attempting to turn us against each other,” Carter said. He urged residents to consult organizations that serve immigrants and refugees about their rights.
Council member Jamal Osman, who was born in Somalia, called the president “racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic” and urged resistance to attempts to divide communities. “Our community has lived through fear in the past, and we’re not gonna let them divide that,” Osman said.
Police will not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara reiterated that his officers do not work with federal immigration authorities on enforcement. “We don’t provide information to federal immigration authorities,” he said. “We don’t ask people about their immigration status. Our mission is clear: to protect life, to uphold the law and to maintain safety for all people in our communities.” O’Hara added that officers will receive additional guidance later this week about the department’s immigration policy.
Community reaction and concerns
Many Somali Americans in Minnesota say they have felt growing uneasiness after Trump’s rhetoric, which has sparked fear and frustration. “I was only 3 years old when I came and this is my home,” said Madino Mudey. A few people at Minneapolis’ busiest Somali mall said they noticed what they believed to be federal agents circling the property Tuesday, though authorities have not confirmed that.
Gov. Walz calls reports “PR stunt”
Gov. Tim Walz responded to reports of the ICE operation by calling it “a PR stunt.” “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime,” Walz said. “Indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.”
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S., roughly 80,000 people according to Minnesota Compass, a Wilder Research project. Many fled Somalia’s long civil war and were drawn to the state’s social programs. Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said his group has heard of “less than a dozen” immigration arrests within the local Somali community in recent days. He said about 95% of Somalis in Minnesota are U.S. citizens, and roughly half of the community was born in the U.S., making those at earlier stages of immigration a small proportion.
History of Minnesota’s Somali-American community
Dr. Ahmed Samatar, founding dean of the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College, has said Somali migration to Minnesota began after Somalia’s 1991 civil war. Some were internally displaced, others fled to refugee camps or were resettled abroad. According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, 13,582 Somali refugees came to Minnesota between 2005 and 2018.
Samatar described a “call of kinship” — when early arrivals tell others about opportunities in Minnesota — and cited the state’s resettlement agencies, strong economy, job opportunities (including in western Minnesota), schooling, health care and relative safety as reasons many Somali-Americans have made the state home. “The state of Minnesota has always been considered a kind and successful place,” he said.
Ubah Ali, Ashley Grams, Stephen Swanson, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Heather Brown, Anthony Bettin and Joe Walsh contributed to this report.
