MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Even for a president who has long made clear he’s no fan of Somalia, the latest round of White House contempt was a shock Wednesday in the country’s largest Somali community.
“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” President Donald Trump told reporters during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting. “We can go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”
Trump doubled down Wednesday: “Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country.”
Hamse Warfe, a Somali-born U.S. citizen from the Minneapolis area who has started series of successful businesses, sees things differently.
“I am not garbage,” said Warfe, who now runs a nationwide education nonprofit, World Savvy.
“Words matter a lot — especially when it’s the president of the United States who is talking,” he said, choosing his own words carefully.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is home to about 84,000 people of Somali descent, who make up nearly one-third of the Somalis living in the U.S.
Refugees from the East African nation have been coming to the frigid plains of Minnesota since the 1990s, drawn by the state’s generous social services and an ever-growing diaspora community.
They have become increasingly prominent in the state, serving on the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils and in the state legislature. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar — a regular target of Trump, who on Tuesday singled her out specifically as “garbage” — represents part of the state in the U.S. House.
Trump's comments came days after his administration announced it was halting all asylum decisions following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington. The suspect is originally from Afghanistan but Trump has used the moment to raise questions about immigrants from other nations, including Somalia.
Trump spoke soon after reports that federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the planning.
Most of the state's Somalis are U.S. citizens, many of them born in this country.
Trump vowed last week in a social media post to send Somalis “back to where they came from,” and alleged Minnesota is “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
Later Tuesday, the administration said it was pausing all immigration applications such as requests for green cards for people from 19 countries, including Somalia, banned from travel to the U.S. as part of sweeping immigration changes after the National Guard shooting.
Local Somali community leaders, as well as allies like Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have also pushed back against those who might blame the broader Somali community for recent cases of massive fraud in public programs.
They vowed to protect the city’s Somali community.
“Minneapolis is — and will remain — a city that stands up for our residents,” Frey said in a statement Wednesday.
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AP writer Steve Karnowski contributed to this story.
