Trump ‘immediately’ ends deportation protections for Somalis in Minnesota

President Donald Trump said Friday evening he was ending protections against deportation of Somalis in Minnesota “effective immediately.”

“Minnesota, under the leadership of Governor (Tim) Walz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

He continued: “As President of the United States, I am terminating, effective immediately, Temporary Protected Status (TPS program) for Somalis in Minnesota. »

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President Donald Trump said Friday evening that he was ending protections against deportation of Somalis in Minnesota, “effective immediately.” (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump claimed that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of this great state and BILLIONS of dollars are missing. Send them back where they came from. It’s OVER! President DJT.”

Minnesota has a large Somali population, and the TPS program allows Somali nationals to have temporary legal status to live and work in the United States due to dangerous conditions in the African country.

A street sign reading “Somali St” is pictured with Riverside Plaza in the background in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)

In recent years, the state has faced fraud issues, including through the Feeding Our Future program, which misappropriated hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19-related funds.

The president’s decision comes as a new investigation by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, claims millions of dollars were allegedly transferred to the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab as part of the Feeding Our Future scam.

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Islamist fighters loyal to the al-Qaeda-inspired group al-Shabaab carry out exercises outside Mogadishu. (Abdurashid Abdulle/AFP via Getty Images)

Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo of the Manhattan Institute said in a report that they uncovered a fraud ring involving Minnesota’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program, Feeding Our Future and other organizations.

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They added that federal counterterrorism sources confirmed that millions of dollars in stolen funds were sent back to Somalia, and that is how Al-Shabaab obtained the money.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Walz’s office and the White House for comment.