Trump Attacks Somali Immigrants, Says They Are Not Wanted in the United States

US President Donald Trump launched an angry attack on Somali immigrants on Tuesday, declaring that they should be unwelcome in the United States as he highlighted the long-standing troubles of Somalia.

Trump’s heated comments come amid a widening scandal in Minnesota, where prosecutors allege that more than $1 billion was fraudulently claimed for non-existent social services, largely through false billing by Somali Americans.

“In Somalia they have nothing; they simply run around killing each other,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting.

“Their country is no good for a reason. Their country is terrible, and we do not want them in our country,” he added.

Trump has a long history of making disparaging remarks about minority groups and first rose to political prominence by promoting the false conspiracy theory that former president Barack Obama had been born in Kenya, rather than in the United States.

He has frequently fuelled fears among white Americans about losing political and cultural influence.

“We are at a tipping point,” Trump told the cabinet meeting.

“We could move in either direction, and we will go the wrong way if we keep taking in rubbish into our country.”

Trump also claimed that Somali Americans “contribute nothing” and sharply criticised Ilhan Omar, the outspoken Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota who was born in Somalia.

“Ilhan Omar is rubbish. Her friends are rubbish,” Trump said.

“Let them go back to where they came from and sort it out.”

Omar later responded on X: “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”

Trump last week removed long-standing deportation protections for Somalis that had been in place since 1991, when Somalia descended into chaos.

Prosecutors are investigating several schemes in Minnesota involving the theft of taxpayer money, including claims from groups that falsely stated they were feeding children during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minnesota, traditionally a Democratic-leaning state with a long history of accepting refugees, is home to a large Somali American community.

The scandal has taken on a political dimension as Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, is a Democrat who was the party’s unsuccessful vice-presidential candidate in last year’s election.

Separately, Trump last week ordered an immediate halt to all visa issuance to Afghans after a deadly shooting in Washington by an Afghan who had worked for US intelligence during the war and was granted asylum following the Taliban’s return to power.

Khaborwala/SS