Trump targets Minnesota’s Somali community with harsh words and policies

MINNEAPOLIS AP Up-to-date statements by President Donald Trump and top administration administrators disparaging Minnesota s large Somali area have focused renewed attention on the immigrants from the war-torn east African country and their descendants Trump on Tuesday announced he did not want Somalis in the U S because they contribute nothing The president spoke soon after a person familiar with the planning announced federal leadership are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U S Here are specific things to know about Somalis in Minnesota Largest Somali American population in the US An estimated people of Somali descent were living in the U S in according to the Census Bureau s annual American Locality Survey The largest population is in the Minneapolis-St Paul area home to about residents majority of of whom are American citizens Ohio Washington and California also have vital populations Almost of the Somalis in Minnesota were born in the U S Of the foreign-born Somalis in Minnesota an overwhelming majority - are naturalized U S citizens Of the foreign-born population almost half entered the U S in or later according to the Census Bureau They include multiple who fled the long civil war in their east African country and were drawn to the state s welcoming social programs Trump targets the society Trump has become increasingly focused in fresh weeks on Somalis living in the U S saying they have caused a lot of trouble Trump and other administration functionaries stepped up their criticism after a conservative news outlet City Journal claimed that taxpayer dollars from defrauded executive programs have flowed to the militant group al-Shabab an affiliate of al-Qaida that controls parts of rural Somalia and often has targeted the capital Mogadishu While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed in a social media post Monday that his agency is studying whether hardworking Minnesotans tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization little evidence has emerged so far to prove a link Federal prosecutors have not charged any of the dozens of defendants in latest population project fraud cases in Minnesota with providing material aid to foreign terrorist organizations Last month Trump commented he was terminating Temporary Protected Status for Somali transients in Minnesota a legal safeguard against deportation A account produced for Congress in August put the number of Somalis covered by the plan at just nationwide The announcement drew immediate pushback from a few state leaders and immigration experts who characterized Trump s declaration as a legally dubious effort to sow fear and suspicion Fraud assertions lead to pushback Local Somali population leaders as well as allies like Gov Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have also pushed back against those who might blame the broader Somali neighborhood for specific latest cases of massive fraud in residents programs Those include what is known as the Feeding Our Future embarrassment which federal prosecutors say was the country s largest COVID- -related fraud episode It involved a undertaking meant to feed children during the pandemic The defendants were accused of fraudulently claiming to be feeding millions of meals to children While the alleged ringleader was white plenty of of the defendants were Somalis and the greater part of them were U S citizens Prosecutors in latest months have raised their estimate of the thefts to million from an original million and the number of defendants last month grew to The cases are still working their way through the court system Republican candidates for governor and other offices in are staking their hopes on voters blaming Walz for failing to prevent the losses to taxpayers Trump has blasted Walz for allowing the fraud to unfold on his watch Earlier terrorism cases still echo Agents in Minnesota struggled for years to stem the recruiting of young Somali men by the Islamic State group and the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab The predicament first surfaced in when more than young men went to Somalia where Ethiopian troops propping up a weak U N -backed governing body were seen by countless as foreign invaders While greater part of those cases were resolved years ago another came to light earlier this year A -year-old defendant pleaded guilty in September to attempting to provide material advocacy and information to a designated foreign terrorist organization Mostly in the s the Islamic State group also discovered recruits in Minnesota s Somali neighborhood with administration saying roughly a dozen left to join militants in Syria Somalis have become a force in Minnesota politics The best-known Somali American is arguably Democratic U S Rep Ilhan Omar a fiery progressive whose district includes Minneapolis and is a frequent target of Trump Several other Somali Americans have served in the Minnesota Legislature and the Minneapolis and St Paul city councils State Sen Omar Fateh a democratic socialist finished second in the Minneapolis mayoral voting process in November to incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey