Report: ICE headed to Twin Cities targeting Somali immigrants

The New York Times reported Tuesday morning that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is launching an “intensive immigration enforcement operation primarily targeting hundreds of undocumented Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.”

The report cites an anonymous Trump administration official and documents obtained by the Times. 

The plan calls for the deployment of “strike teams” comprising ICE officers and other federal officials. The anonymous official told the Times that roughly 100 officers and agents from around the country have been brought into the operation. 

Local elected officials tried to project resolve and support. 

“I know many families are fearful tonight, but I want you to know that the city and I stand behind you,” said Minneapolis Council Member Jamal Osman, who represents the largest East African community in the city, during a press conference Tuesday. 

The news comes after an increase in anti-Somali rhetoric among right-wing leaders, including President Donald Trump. 

“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you… their country is no good for a reason,” Trump said Tuesday at a cabinet meeting at the White House. “We’re at a tipping point,” he said, adding that the country would “go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

Federal officials have investigated fraud in Minnesota’s public programs for years, and of the dozens of people charged so far, the majority are Somali-American. Terrorism financing has not been among the fraud-related charges.

Data on the immigration statuses of the roughly 90,000 Somali-Americans in Minnesota is not readily available, but the vast majority of Somali people in Minnesota have legal status, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday. Roughly half of Somali-Americans in Minnesota were born in Somalia, according to 2024 Census data.

Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter stood together at Tuesday’s press conference, decrying the president’s comments. 

“Mistakes will be made — and let’s be clear — it means that American citizens will be detained for no other reason than the fact that they look like they are Somali,” Frey said. 

Protestors have squared off with federal officers — and sometimes local police — at raids in Minneapolis and St. Paul this year. Law enforcement officers have used crowd dispersal tactics like pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets and sound cannons. 

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul are sanctuary cities, meaning their local police do not question residents’ immigration status or enforce immigration law, which is a federal responsibility. But both police departments have helped immigration authorities control the large crowds of protesters that have convened outside of raids. 

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Tuesday his officers will protect demonstrators’ First Amendment rights, and that the department is rewriting its immigration enforcement policy based on feedback from community organizations. 

“I also ask that if demonstrations do happen around any type of immigration raid, that they remain nonviolent — so that we can keep everyone in our community safe, so that we minimize the risk of any tragedy happening, or the immigrant communities that are already suffering to suffer that much more,” O’Hara said.

On Nov. 21, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was “terminating” Temporary Protected Status for Somali people in Minnesota. TPS protects citizens of certain countries — those that are deemed too dangerous or unstable — from deportation. Around 700 Somali citizens in the U.S. are protected by TPS. 

On Wednesday, the president directed immigration authorities to reexamine the green cards — granted to people with legal permanent residency — of people from “countries of concern,” including Somalia.