Image Credit: Star Tribune via Getty Images / Contributor / Getty Images 
Temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota will be eliminated, President Trump announced on Friday.
President Trump made the announcement onTruth Social.
“Minnesota, under Governor Waltz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” Trump posted.
“I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Minnesota is home to the largest population of Somalis in the US: around 87,000 according to census data.
In 2023, the Biden administration renewed temporary protected status (TPS) for over 2,600 Somalis, citing the ongoing conflict in the East African nation. The extension was effective for 18 months and allowed those covered to work legally.
It’s estimated that around 700 Somalis are still covered by the extension.
The program granting TPS was created by Congress in 1990. It was intended to prevent the deportation of people to countries affected by various kinds of natural and political turmoil, including natural disasters and war.
Since returning to office, President Trump has moved to end TPS for citizens of a number of different countries, on the basis that the designation was never intended to be permanent.
The Trump admin has ended TPS for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians, as well as Cubans and Syrians.
President Trump also indefinitely suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program on his inauguration day.
