Trump says he is ending temporary deportation protections for Somalis

22/11/2025 16:08

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was immediately terminating temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota, accelerating the end of a program that began in 1991 under another Republican president.



"Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing," Trump said in a late-night post on Truth Social, without providing any further explanation or evidence.



"I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota," he said.



Trump called Minnesota a "hub of fraudulent money laundering activity" under Democratic Governor Tim Walz, an apparent response to unverified media reports, shared by several Republican lawmakers, that the Al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia had benefited from fraud committed in Minnesota.



Walz responded on X, saying, "It’s not surprising that the President has chosen to broadly target an entire community. This is what he does to change the subject." The TPS program for Somalis was launched by then-President George H.W. Bush in September 1991. It grants government protection to eligible foreign-born individuals who cannot return home safely due to civil war or natural disasters.