Trump admin's push to end controversial policy extended by Biden sparks backlash ahead of crucial deadline
This feels like a quiet policy shift.
A handful of immigrants and advocacy organizations are asking the Trump Administration to extend its March 17 deadline to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) afforded to Somalis in the U.S., arguing that the Administration is changing the immigration designation purely along lines motivated by race.
The change in designation would force roughly 1,080 Somali TPS recipients to self-deport or turn themselves in to immigration enforcement, according to a Tuesday filing before a Massachusetts district court.
"President Trump has smeared the Somali community publicly, categorically, and repeatedly. He has called Somali people ‘garbage’ and ‘low IQ people.’ And he has said point blank: ‘I don’t want [Somali people] in our country,’" the challenge states, referring to remarks President Donald Trump made at a cabinet meeting last year.
"They reflect a desire to target and punish Somali nationals based on their race and national origin in violation of the U.S. Constitution," the lawsuit continued.
MINNESOTA FRAUD HEARING SPARKS IMMIGRATION CLASH AS GOP LAWMAKER SPOTLIGHTS SOMALI WELFARE DATA
The suit is brought by African Communities Together and the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and lists the Department of Homeland Security as a defendant.
Their challenge comes amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his administration’s continued focus on Somali populations in states like Minnesota, where fraud activity has drawn national attention.
Trump has had an eye towards Somalia since his first term, when, in 2017, he included the country in a travel ban. That focus resurfaced in November 2025 amid news that a number of predominantly Somali-led fraud schemes had allegedly siphoned as much as $9 billion from Minnesota government assistance programs.
The news prompted Trump’s first move against Somali TPS.
"Minnesota is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as president of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota," Trump wrote in a November post on Truth Social.
US FREEZES ALL VISA PROCESSING FOR 75 COUNTRIES, INCLUDING SOMALIA, RUSSIA, IRAN
Outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem made the designation switch official in January.
Asked about the TPS designation in the wake of Noem’s recent ouster from the agency earlier this month, a DHS spokesperson confirmed the plans remained unchanged.
"Temporary means temporary. Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s …
This feels like a quiet policy shift.
A handful of immigrants and advocacy organizations are asking the Trump Administration to extend its March 17 deadline to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) afforded to Somalis in the U.S., arguing that the Administration is changing the immigration designation purely along lines motivated by race.
The change in designation would force roughly 1,080 Somali TPS recipients to self-deport or turn themselves in to immigration enforcement, according to a Tuesday filing before a Massachusetts district court.
"President Trump has smeared the Somali community publicly, categorically, and repeatedly. He has called Somali people ‘garbage’ and ‘low IQ people.’ And he has said point blank: ‘I don’t want [Somali people] in our country,’" the challenge states, referring to remarks President Donald Trump made at a cabinet meeting last year.
"They reflect a desire to target and punish Somali nationals based on their race and national origin in violation of the U.S. Constitution," the lawsuit continued.
MINNESOTA FRAUD HEARING SPARKS IMMIGRATION CLASH AS GOP LAWMAKER SPOTLIGHTS SOMALI WELFARE DATA
The suit is brought by African Communities Together and the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and lists the Department of Homeland Security as a defendant.
Their challenge comes amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his administration’s continued focus on Somali populations in states like Minnesota, where fraud activity has drawn national attention.
Trump has had an eye towards Somalia since his first term, when, in 2017, he included the country in a travel ban. That focus resurfaced in November 2025 amid news that a number of predominantly Somali-led fraud schemes had allegedly siphoned as much as $9 billion from Minnesota government assistance programs.
The news prompted Trump’s first move against Somali TPS.
"Minnesota is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as president of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota," Trump wrote in a November post on Truth Social.
US FREEZES ALL VISA PROCESSING FOR 75 COUNTRIES, INCLUDING SOMALIA, RUSSIA, IRAN
Outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem made the designation switch official in January.
Asked about the TPS designation in the wake of Noem’s recent ouster from the agency earlier this month, a DHS spokesperson confirmed the plans remained unchanged.
"Temporary means temporary. Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s …
Trump admin's push to end controversial policy extended by Biden sparks backlash ahead of crucial deadline
This feels like a quiet policy shift.
A handful of immigrants and advocacy organizations are asking the Trump Administration to extend its March 17 deadline to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) afforded to Somalis in the U.S., arguing that the Administration is changing the immigration designation purely along lines motivated by race.
The change in designation would force roughly 1,080 Somali TPS recipients to self-deport or turn themselves in to immigration enforcement, according to a Tuesday filing before a Massachusetts district court.
"President Trump has smeared the Somali community publicly, categorically, and repeatedly. He has called Somali people ‘garbage’ and ‘low IQ people.’ And he has said point blank: ‘I don’t want [Somali people] in our country,’" the challenge states, referring to remarks President Donald Trump made at a cabinet meeting last year.
"They reflect a desire to target and punish Somali nationals based on their race and national origin in violation of the U.S. Constitution," the lawsuit continued.
MINNESOTA FRAUD HEARING SPARKS IMMIGRATION CLASH AS GOP LAWMAKER SPOTLIGHTS SOMALI WELFARE DATA
The suit is brought by African Communities Together and the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and lists the Department of Homeland Security as a defendant.
Their challenge comes amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his administration’s continued focus on Somali populations in states like Minnesota, where fraud activity has drawn national attention.
Trump has had an eye towards Somalia since his first term, when, in 2017, he included the country in a travel ban. That focus resurfaced in November 2025 amid news that a number of predominantly Somali-led fraud schemes had allegedly siphoned as much as $9 billion from Minnesota government assistance programs.
The news prompted Trump’s first move against Somali TPS.
"Minnesota is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as president of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota," Trump wrote in a November post on Truth Social.
US FREEZES ALL VISA PROCESSING FOR 75 COUNTRIES, INCLUDING SOMALIA, RUSSIA, IRAN
Outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem made the designation switch official in January.
Asked about the TPS designation in the wake of Noem’s recent ouster from the agency earlier this month, a DHS spokesperson confirmed the plans remained unchanged.
"Temporary means temporary. Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s …
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