(Minnesota) President Donald Trump said on November 21, 2025 that he is “immediately” ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia (TPS) for Somali migrants in Minnesota, declaring on social media that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state and billions of dollars are missing,” even as federal rules and government postings indicated that the program remains in place and cannot be terminated for a single state.
“I am as the president of the United States hereby terminating effective immediately the temporary protected status TPS program for Somali 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.”
The statement targeted Somali residents in Minnesota specifically, even though TPS is a federal immigration designation that, according to legal experts and the Department of Homeland Security, applies nationwide rather than state by state.
As of March 2025, there were about 705 Somali TPS holders in the United States and roughly 4,900 people eligible for the status. The current TPS designation for Somalia was scheduled to run until March 17, 2026, giving that group continued permission to stay in the country under protections tied to Somalia’s long-running armed conflict and humanitarian crises. The number of Somali TPS holders in Minnesota is described by immigration attorneys as “very small” compared with the state’s broader Somali community.
Minnesota is home to an estimated 79,000 Somali residents, the largest Somali community in the United States. Yet most Somali Minnesotans are either U.S. citizens or permanent residents and would not be directly touched by any change to Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Lawyers and advocates said that contrast helps explain why Trump’s announcement caused more confusion and anger than immediate legal consequences on the ground in Minnesota’s Somali neighborhoods.
According to immigration law experts and the Department of Homeland Security, TPS designations for a particular country are made at the federal level and, under current practice, cannot be terminated for just one state. Any move to end TPS for Somalia would have to apply to all Somali TPS holders nationwide, not solely to those living in Minnesota. Attorneys also noted that TPS terminations must be formally announced in the Federal Register notice for TPS termination and typically take effect on the existing expiration date for the country’s designation, rather than “immediately” on the day of a social media post.
As of the evening of November 21, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security’s own website still listed Somalia as TPS-designated, with protections running through March 2026. That online listing, showing Somalia’s designation in force until March 17, 2026, directly undercut the sense of an instant change suggested by Trump’s language. Immigration lawyers pointed to that page and to the Federal Register process as signs that, at least for now, the legal framework for Somali TPS holders remains unchanged despite the president’s declaration.
The White House statement came against the backdrop of long-running political arguments over immigration and public safety in Minnesota, where Somali communities have often found themselves at the center of heated national debates. Trump tied his call to strip protections from Somali TPS holders to what he described as “fraudulent money laundering activity” and claimed, without providing details in the Truth Social post, that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state and billions of dollars are missing.” Those accusations were presented as justification for his order to “Send them back to where they came from…. It’s over. President DJT.”
Minnesota officials and Somali-American leaders quickly pushed back.
“It is not surprising the president has… Somali immigrants have been eligible since 1991.”
His comment referred to the fact that Somalis have had access to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia since 1991, when the program was first extended to people from Somalia because of the country’s armed conflict and humanitarian emergency. TPS for Somalia has been renewed repeatedly since then, reflecting continued instability in the East African nation.
Ilhan Omar, a Democrat representing Minnesota and one of the nation’s most prominent Somali-American politicians, answered Trump directly on social media.
“I am a citizen and so are majority of Somali in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somali you love to hate. We are here to stay,” she wrote.
Omar’s response highlighted what immigration data already showed: the majority of Somali people in the United States, and particularly in Minnesota, do not depend on TPS for their legal status.
For that small group of Somali TPS holders who do live in Minnesota, the announcement still landed with real unease. Even if the number of people directly covered by TPS is relatively low compared with the state’s estimated 79,000 Somali residents, those affected include individuals who have structured their lives, jobs and families around the protection that status provides. Immigration attorneys warned that sudden declarations about deportation or status termination, even when they are not legally effective right away, can spread fear, push people into the shadows and complicate their contact with schools, employers and health providers.
Immigration lawyers stressed that any actual end to TPS for Somalia would have to follow the formal procedures that have applied in previous administrations. They pointed out that prior efforts by the Trump administration to terminate TPS for other countries ran into significant legal challenges and delays once they were tested in federal courts. Those court battles slowed or halted the administration’s plans, leaving many TPS holders in legal limbo for months or years as judges weighed whether the terminations were lawful.
In this case, attorneys said, the first step in any lawful termination of Somalia’s designation would be a notice published in the Federal Register, laying out the reasons for ending protections and the timeline for doing so. Only after that notice, and typically aligning with the existing March 17, 2026 expiration date, would TPS protections for Somali nationals actually cease. Until such a notice appears, they said, the statement on Truth Social has political force but no immediate legal effect on the day-to-day status of Somali TPS holders in Minnesota or anywhere else in the country.
The disconnect between Trump’s words and the formal process left many in Minnesota asking what, if anything, would change in the short term. Community groups working with Somali residents noted that while the direct impact may be limited in raw numbers — with only 705 Somali TPS holders in the United States as of March 2025 and a subset of those living in Minnesota — the rhetorical focus on “Somali gangs” and “billions of dollars” risks deepening stigma and suspicion toward a community that already faces intense public scrutiny.
Legal specialists also underscored that TPS is just one piece of the broader immigration picture for Somali people in Minnesota. Over more than three decades, Somalis have arrived as refugees, family-sponsored immigrants and, in many cases, have naturalized as U.S. citizens. That layered reality is what underpins Omar’s statement:
“I am a citizen and so are majority of Somali in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somali you love to hate. We are here to stay.”
Her comment suggests that, despite the sharp language about deportations and sending people “back,” the reach of any TPS policy shift is far narrower than the rhetoric implies.
Governor Walz’s remark that “Somali immigrants have been eligible since 1991” also placed the current dispute within a much longer history of U.S. recognition that conditions in Somalia have remained unsafe for return. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia has been in place since that year because of armed conflict and humanitarian crises. Over time, that ongoing designation has allowed multiple extensions and re-registrations for eligible Somali nationals already in the United States, contributing to a small but steady population of TPS holders alongside a much larger group of refugees and naturalized citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security’s listing for Somalia, showing that TPS remains valid through March 2026, became a focal point for lawyers, advocates and local officials trying to calm anxious residents after Trump’s announcement. By late on November 21, 2025, the webpage had not changed, reinforcing the view that whatever the political message, the legal reality continues to be governed by existing federal notices and expiration dates. For Somali TPS holders and their attorneys, that page — part of the broader humanitarian information available through the U.S. government’s TPS resources — serves as the practical reference point until an official update appears.
The clash over TPS for Somali nationals in Minnesota also revived memories of earlier legal fights from Trump’s first term, when federal courts examined whether the administration’s attempts to end TPS for several countries were driven by policy reasoning or by discrimination. Those cases highlighted how deeply Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is intertwined with questions of race, nationality and presidential power over immigration. The new statement on Somali TPS, aimed specifically at “Somali in Minnesota,” seemed likely to invite fresh scrutiny over whether a president can use a humanitarian program as a tool for targeting particular communities within a single state.
For now, immigration attorneys say, Somali TPS holders across the country — including the small number living in Minnesota — remain protected until at least March 17, 2026, unless and until the Department of Homeland Security publishes a formal termination notice covering all Somali TPS beneficiaries nationwide. Most Somali residents of Minnesota, as Congresswoman Omar emphasized, are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and will not lose their status because of this announcement. Yet the message “Send them back to where they came from…. It’s over. President DJT” has added another layer of uncertainty to lives already shaped by war, displacement and lengthy immigration processes.
As Minnesota’s Somali community weighs the latest declaration from Washington, local leaders warn that the broader damage may be less about legal papers and more about belonging. Even if the immediate policy impact on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is limited and tightly defined, the repeated singling out of Somali residents in Minnesota feeds a climate in which people who have lived in the state for decades — and, in many cases, become citizens — once again find their place in American life publicly questioned.
On Nov. 21, 2025, President Trump declared he was immediately ending TPS for Somalis in Minnesota, blaming gangs and missing funds. Legal experts and DHS emphasized TPS is a nationwide federal designation that cannot be terminated by state; DHS still listed Somalia’s TPS as valid through March 17, 2026. About 705 Somali TPS holders exist nationwide, with roughly 4,900 eligible, while Minnesota’s Somali community totals about 79,000, most of whom are citizens or permanent residents.
