President Trump said Tuesday he does not want Somalian immigrants in the U.S., slamming Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar — a Somali native — and saying Somalians have “ripped off” the state by obtaining government benefits fraudulently.
In a Cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump also slammed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ms. Omar, both Democrats. He labeled Mr. Walz, the 2024 vice presidential nominee, as “grossly incompetent” after he was asked if the governor should resign over fraud cases in the state.
Fraud scandals have plagued Minnesota as federal prosecutors have charged dozens of people with felonies, accusing them of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars. The fraud surrounds members of the state’s Somali diaspora who set up companies that billed the state for social services that weren’t actually provided.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during the meeting that half of the visas in Minnesota are fraudulent. She said those who submitted “fraudulent visa applications signed up for government programs, took hundreds of billions of dollars from the taxpayers.”
“We’re going to remove them and get our money back,” she said.
Mr. Walz, referring to the administration’s new immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota, said on social media Tuesday: “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.”
Mr. Trump said he doesn’t want Somalians in the U.S.
“But when I watch what is happening in Minnesota, the land of 1,000 lakes, or however many lakes they have, they got a lot of lakes, but this beautiful place, and I see these people ripping it off,” he said of the Somalians.
He said Minnesota has been “ripped off” for billions of dollars, and that the Somalians “contribute nothing.”
“I don’t want them in our country,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you.”
He said the East African nation of Somalia is “no good for a reason.”
“Their country stinks,” he said.
He ripped Ms. Omar as a “terrible person” and “garbage.”
“They complain and from where they came from, they got nothing,” he said of Somalians. “Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.”
Ms. Omar responded to the president’s comments about her on social media, saying, “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”
