President Donald Trump talks after meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.
Ivan Vucci/AP
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Ivan Vucci/AP
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday night that he is “immediately” ending temporary legal protections for Somali immigrants living in Minnesota, while also targeting a program seeking to limit deportations that his administration has already repeatedly tried to weaken.
Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the country. Many fled the long civil war in their East African country and were attracted to the state’s welcoming social programs.
But Trump’s announcement that he wants to end Temporary Protected Status may underestimate how many migrants will be affected. A report prepared for Congress in August put the number of Somalis covered under the program nationwide at only 705.
Congress created the program providing Temporary Protective Status in 1990. Its purpose was to prevent deportation of people to countries suffering from natural disasters, civil conflict or other dangerous situations.
The designation may be granted by the Secretary of Homeland Security and is awarded in 18-month increments.
The president announced his decision on his social media site, suggesting that Minnesota is “a hotbed of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state and billions of dollars are missing. Send them back where they came from,” Trump wrote. “It’s all over!”
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Trump’s decision would “tear apart families.” “This is not just a bureaucratic change; it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community fueled by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric,” executive director Jaylani Hussain said in a statement late Friday.
Trump promised while campaigning to win back the White House last year that his administration would deport millions of people. As part of a broader effort to adopt radical immigration policies, the Trump administration has moved to roll back various protections that have allowed immigrants to live and work legally in the United States.
This included ending TPS for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians who were granted protection under President Joe Biden. The Trump administration has also sought to limit protections previously granted to immigrants from Cuba and Syria, among other countries.