Trump administration ends temporary protected status for thousands of Somalis in US

By Fox News · Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration is ending temporary protection status (TPS) for Somalia , affecting several thousand Somalis currently living in the U.S. and several hundred currently living in Minnesota under the protection. Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17. "Temporary means temporary," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status." "Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests," Noem added. "We are putting Americans first." ILHAN OMAR KICKED OUT OF ICE FACILITY AFTER DHS REQUIRES WEEK'S ADVANCE NOTICE Sources at USCIS told Fox News Digital that there are 2,471 Somali nationals currently in the U.S. under TPS, with 1,383 in the country with pending TPS applications. The move comes as DHS continues ICE operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a widespread roughly $9 billion fraud scheme involving members of the Somali community plagued the state. Fox News Digital learned that an estimated 600 Somali nationals who are protected by TPS live in Minnesota. KRISTI NOEM TELLS CNN'S JAKE TAPPER THAT HE CAN'T 'CHANGE THE FACTS' ABOUT MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING Somalia was granted temporary protection status in 1991 as a result of an ongoing civil war in the African nation. President Joe Biden most recently extended the protection in September 2024. The decision to end TPS for Somalia also comes a day after the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, sued the Trump administration after a historic federal immigration enforcement operation was launched by ICE and DHS. "We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison t…