"An example is Minnesota, where hundreds of thousands of Somalians are ripping off our country and ripping apart that once-great state," Donald Trump said in his remarks.

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DW Fact check: Unproven Neither Trump's claim about the number of Somali migrants nor his accusation that they are exploiting the country is supported by facts. Just days before, President Trump had announced plans to end temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota. "Minnesota, under Governor Waltz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It's OVER!" Trump wroteon his platform, Truth Social. Minnesota's Somali community has faced scrutiny after the publication of an investigation titled "The Largest Funder of Al-Shabaab Is the Minnesota Taxpayer," in the conservative publication City Journal. It alleged large-scale welfare fraud schemes; some linked to informal money transfers to Somalia. The report suggested funds may have reached Al-Shabaab, but this has not been confirmed by official indictments. Indeed, the Department of Justice, the US Attorney's Office for Minnesota, and the Office of Inspector General are leading appropriate investigations. Prosecutors have confirmedthat these cases go beyond overbilling — they often involve fictitious companies and organized fraud rings. But the claim that taxpayer money funded terrorism remains unverified. So far, only individual Somali Americans have been charged with fraud. The Somali population in the United States has grown steadily over the past three decades. According to the 2020 US Census, 221,043 people identified as Somali, either alone or in combination with other backgrounds. The 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) found 169,799 individuals of Somali ancestry in the United States, many of whom were US-born, while 92,401 were born in Somalia. Minnesota hosts the largest Somali community in the United States, with an estimated 87,000 residents

Reviewed by Deutsche Welle ↗ · November 28, 2025