Minnesota becomes latest target of Trump’s pressure campaign against Democratic-led states
Gov. Tim Walz said he expects threats of National Guard use by president. Reports say Trump has Somali community in his sights
Minnesota and its Somali immigrant community have become the latest target of President Donald Trump, in what has become a pattern of escalating pressure against Democratic-led cities and states across the U.S.
During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said he did not want Somali immigrants in the U.S., saying residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country are too reliant on U.S. social safety net and add little to the nation.
And the Associated Press, citing a source familiar with the planning, reported Tuesday that ICE would focus on undocumented members of the Twin Cities Somali community with an intensive immigration enforcement operation. Teams of immigration agents would spread across the Twin Cities in what the person described as a directed, high-priority sweep, though the plans remain subject to change.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other leaders held an afternoon news conference to address the mounting tensions in which they lashed out at Trump’s approach and pledged their support for the 80,000-strong Somali community.
In Minneapolis, activists and community leaders traded reports of federal law enforcement activity in the streets — potentially involving immigration — although the nature of any operations was unclear Tuesday morning.
The focus comes after Trump and members of his cabinet highlighted cases where some members of Minnesota’s Somali-American community defrauded state government programs. Federal prosecutors say fraudsters stole more than $1 billion from state-run programs in recent years. Most of the several dozen people charged, convicted and sentenced in those schemes are of East African descent, although most are American citizens.
At a news conference Tuesday, DFL Gov. Tim Walz said it was clear the administration was turning up the pressure on Minnesota and would “keep piling things on.”
“My expectation is today, we will probably see an increased presence of immigration folks in our city,” said Walz, who is widely seen as a political foe to the president. “We will probably see the president threaten to use National Guard again. This is a president in spiral doing nothing to make life cheaper for Minnesotans or Americans, and we understand who he’s targeting.”
Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2024, added that “demonizing an entire population” is not the way to handle concerns about fraud.”
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-MN, said he was aware of fewer than a dozen arrests this week of undocumented Somali residents. He noted most of Minnesota’s Somali community have legal status or were born in the U.S.
Hussein added that Republicans’ efforts to scapegoat them could backfire because Somalis are not a uniform voting bloc and a growing number support the GOP.
“This is a political attack that our community is experiencing,” Hussein said. “People are confused why an entire community is being scapegoated, unless there is some hidden agenda. We believe it is an effort to demonize Muslims.”
Julia Decker, policy director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said the administration routinely uses “whiplash chaos” to instill fear. Decker worries a large ICE presence in the Twin Cities could affect other immigrant communities.
“This administration has made no qualms about the fact they are willing to step outside the bounds of the law when it comes to arresting, detaining and even deporting people,” Decker said. “They can do a lot of harm in the process.
In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said “what makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally.”
“We do not discuss future or potential operations,” she said.
Several other federal agencies have also recently announced plans to investigate Minnesota.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday night he directed federal authorities to investigate claims that money stolen by fraudsters in Minnesota was redirected to the terrorist organization al-Shabab.
Fraud accusations
The investigation comes after a report published by City Journal, a conservative magazine run by the Manhattan Institute, made an alarming claim that “the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”
There is little evidence to support the claim that stolen taxpayer funds have been funneled to terrorist groups. When the claim was first made by local television news outlet Fox9 in 2018, Minnesota’s nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor investigated and concluded it couldn’t substantiate the allegation.
Additionally, former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andy Luger told the Minnesota Star Tribune last week that the 70 defendants his office prosecuted in the Feeding Our Future fraud case “were looking to get rich, not fund overseas terrorism.”
Walz said Tuesday that he welcomes a federal investigation. But he said his administration has not seen any evidence to support the claim of stolen money going to terrorist groups.
Republicans in the Minnesota Senate also welcomed the federal investigation, saying in a statement Tuesday that it’s “something Governor Walz has never been willing to do himself.”
“Whether fraud was being used for personal enrichment, or being siphoned by terrorist organizations overseas, the reality is that no other state has seen these brazen fraud schemes stealing more than a billion dollars from public funds,” said Sens. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, and Paul Utke, R-Park Rapids.
Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, said in a social media post Tuesday morning that the SBA also will investigate “the network of Somali organizations and executives implicated in these schemes.”
Highway funding targeted
In another salvo fired at Minnesota, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called on the Walz administration to revoke nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) or risk losing as much as $30.4 million in federal highway funding.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s threat comes after Duffy said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that one-third of Minnesota’s nondomiciled CDLs were issued illegally. CDLs are required to operate large and heavy vehicles; nondomiciled CDLs are issued to drivers who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Asked about the transportation secretary’s threat Tuesday, Walz said, “we are following the law exactly as it’s written, exactly as we implemented it for decades.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This Story was published originally at Star Tribune of Minneapolis
