Trump claims Somali immigrants ‘come from Hell,' calls Ilhan Omar 'garbage'

President Donald Trump escalated his attack on Somali immigrants Tuesday, referring to Somali congresswoman from Minnesota, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, as "garbage" and suggesting Somalians "come from Hell."

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump described Somalia in the Horn of Africa as "barely a country" and accused refugees in the Twin Cities of having "ripped off that state for billions of dollars, every year, and they contribute nothing." 

Pointing to what he claimed was around an "88%" welfare rate among Somalis in Minnesota, Trump added: "We don't want them in our country. Their country stinks. … When they come from Hell, they complain, they do nothing but [expletive], we don't want them in our country. Let them go back to their country and fix it."

It's unclear which data the president referred to in his claim about the Somali welfare rate in Minnesota. On Tuesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, announced that more than $1 billion in federal taxpayer funds during the coronavirus emergency was "stolen in Minnesota under the leadership of Governor Walz and after repeated fraud warnings from hundreds of his own employees."

In Tuesday's meeting, Trump also claimed Omar and "her friends" are "garbage."

Trump, who has long targeted Minnesota's Somali population and Omar with derogatory language, claimed on social media that immigrants are "taking over" the state and "roving the streets looking for 'prey.'"

Omar responded to Trump's remarks in an op-ed published by The New York Times on Wednesday. 

"This comment was only the latest in a series of remarks and Truth Social posts in which the president has demonized and spread conspiracy theories about the Somali community and about me personally," Omar wrote. "For years, the president has spewed hate speech in an effort to gin up contempt against me. He reaches for the same playbook of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and division again and again. At one 2019 rally, he egged on his crowd until it chanted 'send her back' when he said my name."

The representative added that more than 90% of Somalis living in Minnesota "are American citizens by birth or naturalization."

"Somali Americans remain resilient against the onslaught of attacks from the White House," she stated. "But I am deeply worried about the ramifications of these tirades."

In a similar escalation on Nov. 21, Trump announced on Truth Social the immediate end to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in Minnesota, a program shielding some 705 individuals nationwide from deportation due to Somalia's ongoing instability. 

"Minnesota, under [Gov. Tim] Walz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity," Trump wrote. "I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota."

He also claimed that Somali gangs are "terrorizing" the people of Minnesota and that billions of dollars "are missing."

"Send them back to where they came from," he wrote. "It's OVER!"

The outburst came days after a shooting in Washington, D.C., left one National Guard member dead and another critically wounded — which Trump has seized upon to level criticism of Somali residents, despite the suspect being an Afghan national granted asylum under his own administration earlier this year. 

During Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said the agency would shift the focus of a nationwide immigration crackdown to Minnesota.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are planning to deploy "strike teams" of approximately 100 federal law enforcement officers to target Somalis who are in the country illegally, according to a New York Times report last month. 

Walz responded to Trump last month by saying, "It's not surprising that the President has chosen to broadly target an entire community. This is what he does to change the subject."

Minnesota is believed to be home to nearly 80,000 Somali Americans, according to state data cited by the Associated Press. A congressional report in August found 705 Somalis in the U.S. had legal protections.