President Trump intends to strip hundreds of Somalis living in the United States of the protected status they have had for decades under a program for immigrants from countries in crisis.

Mr. Trump specifically targeted “Somalis in Minnesota” in a social media post on Friday, writing that he was terminating their eligibility for the Temporary Protected Status program. More Somalis live in Minnesota than in any other state.

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Protected status was first granted to Somalis in 1991, when the country was torn apart by civil war and its national government collapsed. The designation has been extended many times since, including under the prior Trump administration. The most recent renewal was to last until mid-March.

Though there are an estimated 42,500 foreign-born Somalis living in Minnesota, only a small number of them are covered by the Temporary Protected Status program.

As of March, there were 705 Somalis in the whole United States who were covered by the status, according to the Congressional Research Service. Counting people from other covered countries as well, Minnesota has about 8,460 people with the protected status.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Mr. Trump wrote on Friday that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people” of Minnesota, and said that the state was a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.” Several Somali immigrants in Minnesota have been convicted in fraud schemes in recent years, including embezzlement of government funds from food-aid programs for hungry children.

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