Donald Trump’s xenophobia is only expanding. Recently, the president has directed most of his insults at immigrants of one nationality in particular: Somalia. This man attacked them during a cabinet meeting: “These people don’t have any questions anymore.” The Republican said they are all “essential” and no one wants them in the United States. And that is precisely the goal of your government’s new immigration agent: Federal agents will descend this week on Minnesota, home to the world’s largest Somali community, to detain and deport hundreds of immigrants from that community.
Operative, supported by New York Times Other American media confirmed that it will be implemented mainly in the area of the so-called Twin Ciudades, the largest city, Minneapolis, and Saint Paul, the state capital, which together form a large urban area. Customs, Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) will send nearly 100 officers from across the country to assist in the operation. Agents will focus on Somalis who have final deportation orders issued against them, although officials will not rule out detaining migrants who are in the process of regularizing their status in the country.
Local authorities were not late in rejecting the president’s plans. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, confirmed in a post that the city supports Somali immigrants and stressed that the local police will not participate in the operation. St. Paul Governor Melvin Carter opined: “The last thing we need is for federal agents to come into the city and cause chaos.”
It is estimated that 80,000 Somalis live in Minnesota, most of them in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. The majority are legal residents or US citizens. Nationally, about 73% of Somali immigrants arrive in the city, according to the Census Bureau.
However, Trump insists that everyone who arrived in the country illegally has no documents, especially fake visas. “When I come to hell, if I have to do nothing more than criticize, we don’t want them in our country,” the president says this year of the Somali community. He continued: “So that they can return to where they came from and where they arrived.” The president declared Somalia an “Apista” and asserted: “Let us go down the wrong path if we continue to accept the foundation of our country.”
Trump also took the opportunity to launch new attacks against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota who came to the United States from Somalia as a refugee and became a citizen 25 years ago. The Republican says: “It’s Basura. Your friends, Basura.”
The president has been obsessed with Somalis in the United States, even since his first term. In a post on his social network “Truth” last July, he stated that these immigrants “control” the state of Minnesota and that Somali gangs “organize in the streets” of the state in search of “prey.” A few days ago, her administration announced that it would end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali scholars who entered the country legally through the program, which is reserved for citizens of countries experiencing armed conflicts, environmental disasters, or other exceptional and temporary circumstances. In the case of Somalia, the country has been witnessing a civil war since the 1990s.
The president intensified his rhetoric against Somali immigrants in the United States after last week’s shooting of members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., even though the man accused of committing the crime is of Afghan nationality and has no connection to Somalia.
When asked last July about the Somalis’ connection to the pork responsible for the DC shooting, Trump replied: “Nobody. But the Somalis caused a lot of problems.” After the attack that killed one soldier and seriously injured another, Trump promised to “permanently suspend immigration from all third world countries.”
The government has ordered a review of all green permanent resident cards ( Green card) issued to migrants from Somalia and 18 other countries considered high risk. This year, Casablanca is supposed to suspend all immigration applications submitted by citizens of 19 countries.
At the same time, the administration will expand the list of countries whose citizens are prohibited from traveling to the United States. This list of 19 countries, including Somalia, could go on to add up to 30 countries, although Casa Blanca has not yet specified how many. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem only emphasized that those who are flooding the country are “criminals, bloodthirsty, addicts looking for social benefits.”