Washington DC, United States – Recent remarks by President Donald Trump and senior administration officials targeting Minnesota’s Somali community have spotlighted immigrants from war-torn Somalia and their descendants. Trump stated on Tuesday that he does not want Somalis in the U.S. because they contribute nothing. He spoke shortly after reports indicated federal authorities are planning an operation in Minnesota aimed mainly at undocumented Somali immigrants.
Key facts about Somalis in Minnesota include an estimated 260,000 people of Somali descent living in the U.S. in 2024, based on the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The largest group resides in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, with about 84,000 individuals, most of them U.S. citizens. Significant numbers also live in Ohio, Washington, and California.
Nearly 58% of Somalis in Minnesota are U.S.-born. Among foreign-born Somalis there, 87% are naturalized citizens. Almost half of the foreign-born arrived in the U.S. in 2010 or later, per Census Bureau data.
Many fled Somalia’s extended civil war and were attracted to the state’s supportive social services.
President Trump has recently focused intensely on Somalis in the U.S., claiming they have caused much trouble.
Trump and officials escalated their rhetoric after City Journal, a conservative outlet, alleged that defrauded government program funds went to Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaida affiliate controlling rural areas of Somalia and often striking Mogadishu.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday his agency is examining if hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars funded the terrorist group, though little evidence has surfaced. Federal prosecutors have not accused any of dozens of defendants in Minnesota’s recent program fraud cases of aiding foreign terrorist groups.
Last month, President Trump announced ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali migrants in Minnesota, a deportation protection. An August report for Congress estimated 705 Somalis nationwide under the program.
State leaders and immigration experts immediately criticized the move as a legally questionable bid to spread fear and distrust.
Somali community leaders, along with Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have rejected efforts to fault the entire community for recent large-scale public program frauds.
These include the Feeding Our Future scandal, called the nation’s largest by federal prosecutors. It involved a pandemic-era child nutrition program where defendants falsely claimed to serve millions of meals. The purported leader was white, but many defendants were Somalis, mostly U.S. citizens.
Prosecutors recently increased the estimated losses to $300 million from $250 million, with defendants now numbering 78. The cases remain in court.
Republican candidates for 2026 governor and other races hope voters blame Walz for the taxpayer losses. Trump has denounced Walz for permitting the fraud.
Minnesota authorities have investigated recruitment of young Somali men by Islamic State and Somalia’s Al-Shabaab.
The issue emerged in 2007 when over 20 young men traveled to Somalia, where Ethiopian forces backing a fragile U.N.-supported government were widely seen as occupiers.
Most of those cases concluded years ago, but earlier this year a 23-year-old pleaded guilty in September to attempting to support a foreign terrorist organization.
In the 2010s, Islamic State recruited roughly a dozen from Minnesota’s Somali community to join fighters in Syria.
The most prominent Somali American is Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a vocal progressive representing a Minneapolis district and frequent Trump target.
Other Somali Americans have held seats in the Minnesota Legislature and Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils. State Sen. Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist, ran against incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey in November’s Minneapolis mayoral race.