President Donald Trump’s order to reexamine green cards issued to immigrants from Somalia and 18 other countries marks a sweeping escalation in his administration’s immigration policies—one that places hundreds of Somali residents in Minnesota under new uncertainty.
The directive, announced Thursday, followed the shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House by an Afghan national who entered the U.S. under a Biden-era resettlement program.
But in his national address that evening, the president shifted sharply from the incident itself to Minnesota’s Somali community, accusing “hundreds of thousands of Somalians” of “ripping off our country,” a claim he offered without evidence.
The order tasks U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with conducting a full-scale review of permanent residents from the 19 countries that the administration classifies as “of concern,” a list that includes Somalia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, and Venezuela.
The move threatens to unsettle the legal status of thousands of people who have lived in the United States for years, including many in Minnesota, home to the nation’s largest Somali population.
The rhetoric that accompanied the announcement quickly stirred backlash. Trump repeated unfounded allegations that Somali immigrants are involved in terrorism and fraud, echoing claims circulated by conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who said he drew the administration’s attention through a report he co-authored for City Journal.
That report attempted to link Minnesota fraud cases, including the high-profile Feeding Our Future scandal, to terrorist financing in Somalia. Prosecutors, however, have presented no such evidence.
A 2018 review by Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor similarly found no proof that stolen public funds were sent to Al-Shabaab, although it said it could not rule out the possibility in isolated cases.
Local leaders say the renewed scrutiny is a political attack on the Somali community rather than a response to credible security concerns.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR Minnesota, dismissed the City Journal report as inflammatory and misleading, noting that the alleged fraud schemes were driven by personal enrichment, not terrorism. “This story has no legs,” Hussein said. “Actions of any individual do not represent any community.”
Still, the political consequences have already reached far beyond the Afghan suspect at the center of the Washington shooting. Advocates warn that Trump’s order could have chilling effects for tens of thousands of lawful permanent residents whose green cards now fall under reevaluation, potentially affecting work authorization, travel, and long-term security.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has not provided a timeline for the review or clarified its potential outcomes.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that he would support a federal investigation into whether any fraudulently obtained funds have ever reached terrorist groups, but he underscored that no evidence has been presented to date.
The broader concern among state officials and civil rights leaders is that the administration is using isolated criminal cases to justify sweeping actions against an entire community—one that has faced repeated political targeting in recent years.
Trump’s move signals a return to hardline immigration strategies that blur the line between individual wrongdoing and group blame, leaving many Somali families uncertain about their future in the United States and reviving tensions that have shaped political discourse in Minnesota for more than a decade.
