Comment: Prosecute fraud; not entire communities of immigrants

By Patricia Lopez / Bloomberg Opinion

Minnesota’s Somali community is the latest immigrant group targeted by President Donald Trump. Trump announced Friday that deportation protections granted under the Temporary Protected Status program would be terminated “effective immediately” for Somalis in Minnesota.

“Somali gangs are terrorizing people of that great State,” he claimed without evidence in a Truth Social post. “BILLIONS of dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER.” Trump, who disdains Gov. Tim Walz, also alleged the state had become “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” under Democratic leadership.

Trump has criticized TPS since his first term. He has never considered it a legitimate path for entry and believes it has been abused, particularly under President Joe Biden. Biden expanded the program and used it to bring in substantial numbers of Haitians, resulting in Trump’s memorable false claim that “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” from the 2024 campaign.

On Monday, the administration said it also would not renew TPS for Myanmar, which remains locked in civil war, and is also moving forward with a plan to terminate TPS for Venezuela, where millions have fled the regime of socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro. The Myanmar expiration also affects Minnesota, which has about 20,000 refugees from that country.

But those terminations are following standard procedures for filing and notice. Neither has singled out immigrants from any particular state, as Trump did with Somalis in Minnesota.

Trump’s claim about Minnesota’s Somali community conflates two issues that should be kept separate: criminal accusations and immigration policy.

It is true that Minnesota has seen an extraordinary rash of fraud in taxpayer-funded programs recently. More than 70 people have been charged, including several Somalis. But one of the most important principles of law is that individuals are held accountable for individual behavior, not entire populations. To do otherwise risks making scapegoats of innocent people.

Trump’s broadside against TPS may not even affect those Somalis accused of fraud. Only 400 or so individuals in the state still rely on TPS. Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the country, about 80,000; a majority of whom are citizens or permanent residents. “To make a broad-based attack against one community for the actions of a few is outrageous,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told me. “If you want to make the case, make the case.”

Minnesota Republicans have amplified Trump’s accusations with their own calls for the Justice Department to investigate allegations from two writers at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. They claimed that fraudulently acquired funds were sent back to Somalia where a share went to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. (The claims have not been independently verified) More than 15 years ago the state was, in fact, a recruitment hub for Al-Shabaab. But community leaders pushed back, helping officials root out recruiters and provide alternatives to disaffected youth. Ellison said the group’s influence is on the wane, and he has seen no evidence that fraudulent funds have made their way to Al-Shabaab.

At a Sunday stop at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted that TPS was “meant to be temporary,” and that Somalis had been availing themselves of it for more than 30 years. “We plan to follow the process in law,” she said several times, in response to questions from reporters. TPS protections expire for Somalians in the U.S. in March 2026. Unless the designation is extended, an estimated 700 Somalis in the U.S. would have to leave, even though that country’s civil war continues.

Ellison said that regardless of Noem’s comments, he is taking the president at his word. “We are making plans to ensure the law is respected and individual rights protected,” he said.

My time in Minnesota has coincided with the rise of the Somali community. I’ve watched them grow from a few thousand refugees in the early ’90s, fresh out of resettlement camps, into a population of 80,000, aided by a strong immigrant network and a generous array of social services. Some have built small businesses, learned trades, become police officers, lawyers and teachers. Many have become naturalized citizens and many are U.S. citizens by birth. They have developed into a political force, proving a factor in the recent Minneapolis mayoral election.

I have also watched as Minnesota’s generous social safety net has become riddled with financial fraud. I have criticized its lax oversight of taxpayer funds and, as an editorial writer for the Minnesota Star Tribune, called for an independent inspector general to investigate state programs for abuse. The way to handle Minnesota’s real struggles with fraud is to find and bring to justice the actual perpetrators.

America is never at our best when we tar an entire community with the crimes of a few individuals. During World War II, this country locked up thousands of Japanese lest some undermine the war effort. American Muslims endured years of suspicion in the wake of 9/11. If the Justice Department or USCIS finds evidence of fraud or wrongdoing in Minnesota’s Somali community, it should pursue that evidence wherever it leads. But judge individual cases on their merits.

And if Trump wants to end TPS entirely, he should stop targeting vulnerable groups one by one, and instead make his case to Congress.

Patricia Lopez is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. She is a former member of the editorial board at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she also worked as a senior political editor and reporter.