The Trump administration is ending Temporary Protected Status for Somalians in the United States.
TPS allows individuals from a country where war or other forms of unrest are taking place to remain in the United States when they would not be eligible to be admitted through other immigration programs.
The Department of Homeland Security said TPS for the group ends March 17.
“Temporary means temporary,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said, according to Fox News.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status.”
Fox noted that Somalis have been covered by TPS since 1991.
“Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests,” Noem said.
“We are putting Americans first.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said there are 2,471 Somali nationals covered by TPS. Of those, 1,383 have TPS applications pending.
About 600 of the Somalis covered by TPS live in Minnesota, which had emerged in recent weeks as the epicenter of government fraud operations. Many agencies that were involved in the fraud served the Somali community.
Trump had foreshadowed the action in November in a post on Truth Social.
“Minnesota, under Governor Waltz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER! President DJT,” Trump wrote.
As a result, last month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the administration was investigating ways to revoke citizenship of Somali immigrants who have committed fraud.
More than 240,000 Somalis are in the U.S., with more than 100,000 of them in Minnesota, the Hill reported, citing Census data.
President Donald Trump has said that the spiraling fraud is a good reason to deport Somalis.
“Much of the Minnesota Fraud, up to 90%, is caused by people that came into our Country, illegally, from Somalia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last month.
“Lowlifes like this can only be a liability to our Country’s greatness. Send them back from where they came, Somalia, perhaps the worst, and most corrupt, country on earth. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
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