Is the Somali immigration debate just history repeating itself? | Will Cain Country
Professor Tyler Anbinder joins Will Cain to compare Somali immigration to the Irish wave of the 1800s. Is history repeating itself or is today’s debate fundamentally different?
A handful of immigrants and advocacy organizations are asking the Trump administration to extend its March 17 deadline to end the temporary protected status (TPS) afforded to Somalis in the U.S., arguing the administration is changing the immigration designation purely along lines motivated by race.
The change in designation would force roughly 1,080 Somali TPS recipients to self-deport or turn themselves in to immigration enforcement, according to a Tuesday filing before a Massachusetts district court.
"President Trump has smeared the Somali community publicly, categorically, and repeatedly. He has called Somali people ‘garbage’ and ‘low IQ people.’ And he has said point blank: ‘I don’t want [Somali people] in our country,’" the challenge states, referring to remarks President Donald Trump made at a Cabinet meeting last year.
"They reflect a desire to target and punish Somali nationals based on their race and national origin in violation of the U.S. Constitution."
MINNESOTA FRAUD HEARING SPARKS IMMIGRATION CLASH AS GOP LAWMAKER SPOTLIGHTS SOMALI WELFARE DATA
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House March 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The suit was brought by African Communities Together and the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and lists the Department of Homeland Security as a defendant.
Their challenge comes amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his administration’s continued focus on Somali populations in states like Minnesota, where alleged fraud activity has drawn national attention.
Trump has had an eye toward Somalia since his first term, when, in 2017, he included the country in a travel ban. That focus resurfaced in November 2025 amid news that a number of predominantly Somali-led fraud schemes had allegedly siphoned as much as $9 billion from Minnesota government assistance programs.
The news prompted Trump’s first move against Somali TPS.
"Minnesota is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as president of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota," Trump wrote in a November post on Truth Social.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Somali illegal immigrant Abdul Dahir Ibrahim, who was convicted of fraud and is connected to several high-profile Minnesota politicians, including former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz. (ICE)
Outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem made the designation switch official in January.
Asked about the TPS designation in the wake of Noem’s recent ouster from the agency earlier this month, a DHS spokesperson confirmed the plans remained unchanged.
"Temporary means temporary. Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for temporary protected status. Allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. The Trump administration is putting Americans first," an agency spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Under the Immigration Law of 1990, aliens protected by TPS are allowed to work in the United States and are shielded from removal as long as their country of origin is experiencing "temporary conditions" like war or natural disaster that would prevent their safe return. The attorney general may extend a country’s TPS status for 18 months at a time.
Somalia received TPS in 1991 and has held a TPS designation for 35 years.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BLOCKED FROM ENDING TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR HAITIANS
Soldiers of the Somalia National Army walk near the front lines at Sabiid, one of the towns they liberated from the al Qaeda-linked militants, Al-Shabaab, in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region Nov. 11, 2025. (Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images)
Tuesday’s filing argues dangerous conditions remain in place, citing terrorist activity from groups like Al-Shabaab listed in Somalia’s latest TPS extension.
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"The 2024 redesignation noted that ‘Somalia continues to experience widespread insecurity due to armed conflict involving state and non-state actors’ … subjecting civilians to human rights abuses, including summary executions, indiscriminate and targeted killings, gender-based violence, child recruitment, disappearances and physical abuse," the plaintiffs argued.
DHS declined to comment on its on-the-ground assessments of Somalia’s local conditions.
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