A new report claims that President Donald Trump’s administration is launching an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Minnesota’s Twin Cities targeting Somali illegal immigrants. The report comes after the Trump administration announced that Somali nationals have been “ripping off American taxpayers” through major fraud schemes in Minnesota.
Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that internal documents and information provided by an anonymous official suggested that Trump’s ICE operation was preparing to target Somali nationals with final deportation orders. The outlet claimed that approximately 100 federal agents would be deployed in “strike teams” to Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In response to The New York Times report, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Caller, “What makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally.” McLaughlin also refused to comment on “future or potential operations.”
Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) criticized the reported ICE operation in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.”
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On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that law enforcement officials arrested at least 12 of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal immigrants, including five individuals from Somalia, six from Mexico, and one from El Salvador, as part of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. The department noted that the arrested illegal immigrants included violent gang members, child sex offenders, and domestic abusers.
“Sanctuary policies and politicians like Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey allowed these pedophiles, domestic terrorists, and gang members to roam the streets and terrorize Americans,” McLaughlin stated. “ICE law enforcement are risking their lives to protect Minnesotans while their own elected officials sit by and do nothing. No matter when and where, ICE will find, arrest, and deport ALL criminal illegal aliens.”
During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Trump highlighted an investigation that found that Somalians “ripped off” Minnesota for “billions of dollars.”
“I don’t want them in our country,” Trump said. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.”
“When they come from hell, and they complain and do nothing but b-tch — we don’t want them in our country,” Trump added. “Let ’em go back to where they came from and fix it.”