Trump administration halts temporary protected status for Somalis
The Trump administration is ending temporary protected status (TPS) for Somali immigrants, the target of an intense immigration enforcement effort in Minnesota. President Donald Trump has said he wants to remove Somalis from the country and has referred to them as “garbage.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Somalis with TPS will be required to leave the U.S. by March 17. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed the news on X, saying, “Temporary means TEMPORARY.”
What is temporary protected status?
TPS is a designation given to nationals who can’t return to their country safely because of armed conflict, such as a civil war; natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes; or epidemics and other extraordinary, temporary conditions.
“Temporary means temporary,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who decided to withdraw the temporary protection, said in a statement. “Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests,” she said.
Noem did not elaborate. But she said the Trump administration is “putting Americans first.”
Trump’s criticism of Somalians
The move affects several thousand Somalis living in the United States. The status was first granted in 1991 under President George H.W. Bush because of Somalia’s civil war.
Trump has spent recent weeks accusing Somali nationals of destroying the U.S. In December, he said Somalians should “go back to where they came from.”
“I don’t want them in our country,” Trump said to reporters following a Cabinet meeting. “I’ll be honest with you, OK. Somebody will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason.”
His criticism intensified amid news reports that several dozen people of Somali descent were convicted in fraud schemes across Minnesota. Many of those convicted were native-born or naturalized U.S. citizens.
Federal officials dispatched hundreds of immigration officers to the Minneapolis area after a video claiming widespread fraud by Somali Americans went viral after it was posted Dec. 26. State officials and media outlets have disputed many of the video’s claims.
Other designations lifted
Somalia joins a growing list of countries for which the administration has moved to end TPS. Since Trump returned to office, the administration has also withdrawn protected status for nationals from Afghanistan, Venezuela, Haiti and South Sudan.
Several of those moves are being challenged in court. However, in October, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to move forward with ending the program for Venezuelans.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
