As Donald Trump went on another extended racist tirade against Somalis on Wednesday, Minneapolis activists prepared for more targeting of the community by conducting trainings on their rights and planning how they would protect their neighbors.
In the White House on Wednesday, a reporter asked the president about Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, who has defended the Somali community. Trump responded: “I wouldn’t be proud to have the largest Somalian – look at their nation. Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other. Look, these Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. Billions and billions.”
He again mentioned Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is Somali and a US citizen, saying she shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress and “should be thrown the hell out of our country”. The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, he said, was “crooked” and “incompetent”.
“Those Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain,” he said. “You have her – she’s always talking about ‘the constitution provides me with uhhhh’. Go back to your own country and figure out your constitution. All she does is complain about this country and without this country she would not be in very good shape. She probably wouldn’t be alive right now. Somalia is considered by many to be the worst country on Earth. I don’t know. I haven’t been there, I won’t be there anytime soon, I hope.”
Earlier this week, he called Somalis “garbage” and said he didn’t want any of them to be in the US.
The Trump administration plans to send more federal agents into Minneapolis with the mandate to go after Somalis, particularly those with final orders of deportation, though the specifics of the surge are not yet known. Minneapolis city employees, including police officers, are legally prohibited from assisting in civic immigration enforcement activities under the city’s separation ordinance. Progressive city council members have called for strengthening the ordinance.
The city of Minneapolis said on its social media account that the city was “proud to stand behind our Somali community” and noted that there were free legal clinics with immigration attorneys available locally.
Frey issued an executive order on Wednesday night that prohibits federal, state and local agencies from using city-owned parking lots, ramps, garages or vacant lots to stage immigration enforcement operations, a similar order to one issued in Chicago as that city confronted increased ICE activity. He also directed the city to design a signage template that local businesses will be able to use to make clear that agents are not allowed on their properties.
“Minneapolis is – and will remain – a city that stands up for our residents,” Frey said in a statement about the order.
The right wing has seized on fraud cases, spanning multiple years, that involve dozens of Somali residents, more than 50 of whom have been convicted for their role in a wide-ranging fraud scheme that involved lying to the state to receive reimbursements for meal disbursements, medical care, housing and autism services. Rightwing media highlighted the fraud in recent weeks, catching the attention of the White House. The Trump administration previously threatened to revoke temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota, citing the state as a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity”.
Minnesota is home to the country’s largest Somali population, who have settled in the state over the last three decades. About 84,000 people of Somali descent live in Minnesota, and most Somalis in the state are US citizens or legal residents.
In the days since Trump first attacked Somalis, the local community has worked quickly to respond, honing their knowledge of legal rights and planning how they could look out for Somali residents.
Activists from Chicago held a training for Minnesota community members who wanted to know how to participate in “ICE watch”, sharing what they learned in their city about effective tactics and information sharing.
Neighbors called for volunteers to stand watch outside schools that have large populations of Somali students at the start and end of days.
County Republican party accounts, on the other hand, shared an “ICE tip line” phone number with the comment: “Turn them in! Send them home!”
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota’s executive director, Jennifer Stohl Powell, said in a statement that the center stands with the Somali community, “who are being unfairly vilified by the administration and targeted by current ICE enforcement actions”.
“The majority of Somalis in Minnesota entered as refugees, and many are now US citizens,” Stohl Powell said. “We urge all non-citizens to know their immigration status and carry proof of that status. Non-citizens have rights, including the right to remain silent, the right not to sign anything without speaking with an attorney, and the right not to open the door unless officers present a judicial warrant with the correct name and address.”
Small businesses showed their support for Somalis. Some began handing out whistles, borrowing a tactic from Chicago, where people use whistles to notify others when ICE is around.
Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city council member, sent out a note to his mailing list about “increased enforcement actions” in south Minneapolis, adding that there were “reports of residents being followed while driving, stopped and taken away”. He directed people to call in reports of federal activity to a rapid response hotline called Monarca.
The local Immigrant Defense Network said on Wednesday that it had received multiple reports of “rapid ICE operations” across the city, with action moving quickly. “By the time observers arrive, ICE has often left the scene,” the network wrote on Facebook.
Jamal Osman, a Minneapolis city council member who is Somali, told CNN that Trump’s attacks on the Somali community and ICE activities remind him of “1930s, 1940s Germany”.
“I never thought there would be a time where I will tell my community to carry their passport around because if you look Somali you might be stopped by ICE,” he said.
