U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was immediately terminating the temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota.
President Donald Trump called Minnesota “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” in a Truth Social post Friday night, and said he is terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis living in Minnesota.
In recent months, federal charges have been announced against individuals in Minnesota for their roles in large-scale fraud schemes targeting the state’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program. Some reports have linked the stolen funds to the al-Qaida-linked terror group Al-Shabaab in Somalia
It’s unclear if President Trump has the authority to suspend TPS for a group in a certain state. The Secretary of Homeland Security designates a foreign country for TPS when the conditions in that country prevent people from returning safely. This includes civil war, which Somalia has been engaged in since the 1990s.
“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”