“We are deeply disappointed that the administration has chosen to end Minnesota’s Somali Temporary Protection Program, a legal lifeline for families who have built their lives here for decades,” said Jelani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Minnesota. He said In response. “This decision, fueled by harmful disinformation campaigns that we believe are foreign politically motivated, will tear apart families and send individuals to a country they have not known for more than 20 years,” he added.
Hussein continued: “This is not just a bureaucratic change, it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by anti-Islamic and hateful rhetoric. We strongly urge President Trump to reverse this misguided decision.”
“In a typical move, Donald Trump is attacking our Somali community because he can’t think of anything else to do on Friday night.”
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the country at more than 26,000. Many have become citizens or permanent residents, and there are only about 430 people in the Minnesota TPS program. Furthermore, immigration law experts say it would be legally difficult to revoke the protections before they actually expire in March next year.
“There is literally no legal means by which he can do this. It is not presidential authority,” he added. books Aaron Reichlin-Melnyk, a senior fellow in the American Immigration Council’s advocacy group, on social media. “Temporary protected status under the law cannot be terminated early. Somali TPS is not scheduled to expire until March 17, 2026.”
He added that while the Department of Homeland Security “may attempt to do so… it will be immediately invalidated.”
Furthermore, TPS should be abolished at the national level, not a single country.
“There is no legal mechanism that would allow a president to terminate the protected status of a particular community or country with which he was at odds,” said Heidi Altman, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center. the news agency.
“This is what Trump has always done: demagogue immigrants without justification or evidence and use that demagoguery to try to take away important life-saving protections,” she said.
Despite this, the comments caused many in the community to “panic,” said local immigration lawyer Abdulqani Jabbani. He said the Minnesota Star Tribune.
People “are afraid of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Agents may begin arresting Somalis. “These are people who have lived and worked in the community for over 20 years,” Gabani said.
Somalis were first granted temporary protected status in the United States in 1991 when civil war broke out after the removal of leader Said Barre. Since then it has been renovated 27 times. Today, the extremist Al-Shabaab movement still controls parts of the country.
“It is unsafe to return anyone to Somalia today because Al-Shabaab is still active, terrorist attacks continue, and the current situation is unsafe.” [Somali] Jabbani said that the government today is unable to protect anyone.
Minnesota state leaders took to social media to speak out against Trump’s decree and defend the Somali community in the state.
“It is not surprising that the president would choose to target an entire community on a large scale. This is what he is doing to change the subject. books Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) books: “In a typical move, Donald Trump is attacking our Somali community because he can’t think of anything else to do on a Friday night. It is what it is, but not what we are.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who is Somali, spoke out against the people who used Trump’s ad to demand her deportation.
“I am a citizen and I am [a] The majority of Somalis in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that has little impact on the Somalis you love to hate. We are here to stay,” she said books.
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