WASHINGTON — U.S. authorities have detained several people, including Somali nationals, in a sweeping immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, officials said Wednesday, just two days after Trump launched a tirade against immigrants from the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalis, and vowed to remove them from the country.
The Department of Homeland Security said the arrests began Monday and released a brief summary identifying 12 people taken into custody — five of them Somali, with others from Mexico and El Salvador. Officials described all those detained as “dangerous criminals,” alleging offenses ranging from fraud and auto theft to sexual assault and driving under the influence of drugs.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, sharply condemned Trump’s rhetoric targeting the city’s sizeable Somali community. On Thursday, he urged U.S. leaders “to show love and respect” for Minnesota’s Somalis, the largest Somali diaspora community in North America.
Trump’s racially charged remarks — including attacks on Minnesota lawmakers who have defended their Somali constituents — were widely applauded by his political allies.
During a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump reacted to reports of alleged corruption involving parts of Minnesota’s Somali community, calling some immigrants “garbage” and saying he wanted “to send them back where they came from.”
Minnesota’s Somali community — long embedded in the state’s cultural, economic and civic life — now faces rising anxiety over how Trump’s statements and policies could affect their future.
