Donald Trump rips up decades-long protection for Somalis while calling the community ‘garbage’

The Trump administration is officially pulling the plug on Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Somali nationals living here in the United States, giving hundreds of people just two months to leave the country or face deportation. This decision ends decades of protection for a community first granted status back in 1991.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the move, claiming that conditions in the East African country have improved enough that Somalis no longer qualify for the designation under federal law. She was very blunt about the administration’s position. Secretary Noem wrote that “Temporary means temporary,” adding that letting Somali nationals remain was “contrary to our national interests.” She insisted, “We are putting Americans first,” according to The Guardian.

This is awful for the 705 Somali nationals officially holding TPS right now, according to official data from August 2025. They have until March 17 before their protected status expires. However, some sources suggest the actual number of current beneficiaries and applicants is much higher, potentially closer to 2,471 people.

The US goes back on so many promises lately

TPS is a designation granted by the Department of Homeland Security to foreign nationals who can’t safely return to their home countries, often due to armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances. It allows individuals to live and work legally in the US. Somalis were first granted this protection by the administration of George HW Bush during Somalia’s devastating civil war. The status has been repeatedly renewed by successive administrations, most recently by Joe Biden in September 2024, who had extended it through March 2026.

While the administration cites improved conditions, President Trump’s statements suggest a more aggressive motivation. President Trump first announced his intentions to end the protection for Somali nationals in November, specifically targeting Minnesota, which is home to a large Somali community. He used Truth Social to claim that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing.” He followed up with a simple order: “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”

The president has previously called Somalis “garbage” and his administration has been using the issues with fraud in Minnesota as a pretext to surge immigration officers into the state. There are also unverified claims, amplified by some Republican lawmakers, suggesting the militant group al-Shabaab in Somalia benefited from fraud committed in Minnesota, though these claims have not been substantiated at all.

This decision feels particularly harsh because UN reports clearly show Somalia is still struggling immensely. The country is plagued by brutal violence from al-Shabaab militants, severe drought conditions, and widespread humanitarian crises that have internally displaced millions of people.

Human rights organizations are warning that returning Somali nationals to the country could place them at severe risk. You can expect this uncertainty to create incredible stress for thousands of families who’ve built lives here.

The local political fallout has been immediate and intense. Minneapolis and St Paul have filed a lawsuit against the administration, alleging the state is being targeted specifically because of its diversity and political differences with the federal government.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison stated that federal agents “have sown chaos and terror across the metropolitan area.” This chaos reached a tragic peak last week when American citizen Renee Good was fatally shot in the head by a federal immigration agent in south Minneapolis during an enforcement operation. That awful event sparked massive protests across the US.