From Minnesota to Guantánamo: The Deportation of Adam Abdullah

MOGADISHU — A 31-year-old Somali asylum seeker who was working legally as an auto mechanic in St. Paul, Minnesota, is among eight Somali men deported to Somalia this week after being held for approximately a month at the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Adam Abdullah arrived in the United States in early 2023 and had a valid work permit while his asylum application was pending. He was arrested on 12 December 2025 by masked immigration agents at the start of what the Trump administration called Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale enforcement operation targeting the Somali community in Minnesota.

Beyond two parking tickets for failing to move his vehicle during snowstorms, Abdullah has no criminal record in Minnesota.

After his arrest, immigration authorities moved him between detention centres in Minnesota, Kentucky, and Louisiana before transferring him to Guantánamo Bay in late August with seven other Somali men.

‘It Was Very Hard’

Speaking to MPR News from his family’s home on the outskirts of Mogadishu after his release, Abdullah described difficult conditions at the detention facility. He said the men were held under heavy security, received an hour of exercise each day in an outdoor cage, and were put in chains when escorted to the telephone area.

“It was very hard,” Abdullah said. “The first day when we got there, we had a lot of questions and nobody was answering our questions. So the second day, we started a hunger strike.”

Abdullah said that in retaliation, guards placed him in solitary confinement in an over-air-conditioned room.

“They beat me, and they put me in a room, a freezing room, so to scare the other guys,” he said.

The other detainees ended their hunger strike, but Abdullah said he held out until he was allowed to speak with someone at the Somali embassy. It was then that he learned ICE had planned to deport him to Somalia and that the embassy had forwarded his travel documents to US authorities.

A Mother’s Death and a Denied Request

Abdullah’s mother fell ill in March while he was in detention. He found out about her illness two days before she died, but authorities would not allow him to make an international call from detention or to depart the country voluntarily.

“I requested a voluntary departure while she was sick, but they denied it,” Abdullah said. “I told them, my mom is sick. Even when she died, I told them, but there was nothing they could do.”

Nine Months in Custody

By the time of his removal, Abdullah had spent approximately nine months in US custody.

He said nine Somali men were ultimately aboard the deportation flight to East Africa. The flight left Cuba in the middle of the night, with stops in Puerto Rico, Dakar, and Nairobi before the men transferred to a Somali airline for the final leg to Mogadishu.

Abdullah described being shackled throughout the transatlantic flight.

Suspicion Upon Return

As Abdullah readjusts to life in Mogadishu, he said some people are treating him with suspicion because of Guantánamo’s global reputation as a prison for terrorism suspects.

“Even some of my family members, they are not believing that I went there innocent,” he said.

Despite his experience, Abdullah said he has not soured on the United States.

“American people are good people,” he said. “It was just bad timing.”

Legal Challenges and Government Response

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to stop ICE’s use of Guantánamo for immigration detainees. The lawsuit argues that the government lacks legal authority to hold detainees offshore and that the policy violates immigration law and constitutional protections. A federal judge allowed the class-action case to proceed, and a hearing is scheduled for 14 October.

Twin Cities immigration attorney Marc Prokosch, who represented Abdullah and three of the other Somali men, said that because the detainees had deportation orders to their nation of origin, ICE’s actions do not appear to run afoul of federal law.

“We can all debate the morality and the ethics of it, but legally, it seems like it was solid,” Prokosch said.

The Department of Homeland Security has defended the transfers. In identical statements to MPR News, a spokesperson called the men “the worst of the worst,” but the department provided no evidence that they had committed crimes in the US or elsewhere.

In a separate statement, DHS said it never discloses information about deportation flights “for operational security and the safety of our personnel.”

Critical Note

The deportation of Adam Abdullah and seven other Somali men from Guantánamo Bay raises serious questions about the use of a facility associated with terrorism detention for civil immigration enforcement. Abdullah had a valid work permit, no criminal record, and was pursuing a lawful asylum claim when he was arrested. The decision to send him to Guantánamo, rather than holding him in a domestic detention facility, appears to have been driven by political considerations rather than security or logistical necessity.

The conditions Abdullah described, including solitary confinement in a freezing room and physical mistreatment, echo allegations made by other detainees held at Guantánamo for immigration purposes. The ACLU’s ongoing lawsuit challenges the legality of these detentions, but the case remains unresolved, and the practice continues.

For Somalia, the return of these eight men raises questions about how they will be received and whether they will face suspicion or stigma because of their detention at a facility associated with terrorism. Abdullah’s account of being doubted by his own family members illustrates the reputational damage that accompanies a Guantánamo detention, regardless of innocence.

The case also highlights the vulnerability of Somali diaspora communities in the United States, particularly in Minnesota, where the Trump administration’s enforcement operations have targeted Somalis with legal status and pending asylum claims. A federal judge has cleared the way for the administration to end Temporary Protected Status for nearly 1,100 Somali nationals, a decision that could put them at risk of deportation. Whether the courts will halt the use of Guantánamo for immigration detention remains to be seen. Until they do, more Somalis may find themselves on similar flights.