Minneapolis and St. Paul city officials said in a joint news conference Tuesday afternoon that they’re supporting the Somali community amid media reports that the federal government is boosting immigration enforcement against Somali immigrants.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, police Chief Brian O’Hara, and City Council Member Jamal Osman, and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, condemned the reported federal action at a news conference that was livestreamed on YouTube.
“To our Somali community, we love you, and we stand with you,” Frey said. “That commitment is rock solid.”
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The New York Times reported earlier in the day that ICE is targeting “hundreds of undocumented Somali immigrants” in Minneapolis and St. Paul. About 100 officers and agents across the country were brought into the state for the operation, according to an official who shared information with the New York Times on the condition of anonymity.
Frey, O’Hara and Carter said they’ve received no information from the federal government about the alleged activity, and that they could not confirm the media reports. However, a local immigrant rights organization said they’ve received reports of five immigration arrests over the last two days, and O’Hara said his department has received “increased reports” about such activity.
The development comes on the heels of President Donald Trump announcing a change that would affect Somali immigrants, and a cabinet meeting Tuesday at the White House where he told reporters that he didn’t want Somalis in the country and linked the entire community to recent financial fraud scandals in Minnesota. Trump previously attacked the state’s Somali population during the campaign for his first term in office at a rally at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
“They contribute nothing,” Trump said Tuesday. “We don’t want them in our country.”
He described the Somali community and Somali congresswoman Ilhan Omar as “garbage” and “people that do nothing but complain.”
Minneapolis and St. Paul officials denounced Trump’s comments, with Carter calling them “reprehensible.”
Trump announced last week that he was terminating temporary protected status (TPS) for Somalia, an immigration status that protects from deportation and allows immigrants to work in the United States due to unsafe conditions in their country. About 700 Somalis in the United States have TPS, according to a 2025 congressional report.
Community reaction
Several Somali residents who spoke with Sahan Journal at Karmel Mall Tuesday afternoon said the reported immigration operation is an attempt to distract the public from other issues in the Trump administration.
“I felt targeted and offended, but I know it’s just politics to distract us from bigger things,” said Mohamed Ibrahin, a Minneapolis resident.
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the country, with nearly 80,000 residents, most of whom live in the Twin Cities, according to the latest count by Minnesota Compass. Many Somali Minnesotans fled their home country because of violence from a civil war and the collapse of the national government.
Shoppers at Karmel Mall and Somali leaders said the community has helped the state grow.
“We represent a significant majority of the growth of the Minnesota population, and targeting our communities by the acts of individuals is racist and not only that, it also shows that there’s something else going on,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“It’s unfortunate, because there’s a lot of changes that the Somalis did bring here, good things and opportunities,” said Minneapolis resident Ali Hassan, 35.
The majority of Somali Minnesotans are U.S. citizens, said Minneapolis resident Liban Ali, 39. Ali said that throughout Tuesday, he heard multiple rumors in the community alleging that ICE agents were operating in the Twin Cities.
“It’s a bad situation,” he said. “A lot of people are scared.”
Leaders pledge not to cooperate
Frey, Carter, Osman and O’Hara all emphasized that both cities have policies that prohibit city staff and police from cooperating with federal authorities in any immigration enforcement actions. However, they said their police departments would engage in regular police work if public safety became an issue in the vicinity of an immigration enforcement action or public protest.
Frey noted that residents caught up in immigration enforcement still have rights, and that they could visit the city’s website or call 311 for resources and information.
“You have the right to remain silent and you have the right to a lawyer,” Frey said. “You can refuse to sign documents until that lawyer is present. You have the right to not open the door unless a warrant has been shown.”
He praised the Somali community in Minnesota.
“Minneapolis is proud to be home to the largest Somali community in the entire country,” Frey said. “They benefit both the culture and the economic resilience of our city.”
Carter, who said St. Paul also offers immigration resources online, noted that the vast majority of Somalis in Minnesota are U.S. citizens.
“He’s attacking Americans — American residents, American neighbors,” Carter said. “They are saying they will target people based on how they look. All of us grew up in classes that taught us that that’s wrong, and it’s still wrong today.”
Frey expressed concern that increased federal activity will ultimately result in violating Somali residents’ rights due to racial profiling.
Osman, who represents the city’s largest Somali neighborhood, said he was proud to be Somali American and expressed gratitude for coming to the United States with his family 26 years ago.
“Somalis who live in this country are working,” he said. “They are working at the groceries, working at your hospitals, delivering your babies — they’re doctors.”
Osman said the fear among Somali community members is palpable.
“I know many families are fearful tonight — they are,” Osman said. “But I want you to know that the city of Minneapolis stands behind you.”
Five arrests reported in two days
Erika Zurawski, a member of the Minnesota Immigrants Rights Action Committee, said she received calls from neighbors and observers who saw ICE arresting four Somali individuals and one Latino man between Monday and Tuesday morning.
“There’s a pretty clear connection between Trump’s outlashing towards the Somali community in Minneapolis and the fact that we’ve seen several arrests of Somali individuals yesterday and today,” she told Sahan Journal Tuesday.
O’Hara said Minneapolis police received “increased reports” in recent days about potential immigration enforcement, but that the department was unable to verify the claims. Regardless, he said, residents are in a “heightened” state of vigilance, he said.
“People are afraid to go to church, they’re afraid of going to worship, they’re not spending a lot of money at immigrant businesses in our city,” O’Hara said.
O’Hara added that the result of such tactics lead to community members being afraid to call the police when they’re in danger. He urged community members not to give into that fear.
“If people are able to prey on certain people in our community to victimize them, to rob them, because they think those folks are less likely to call the police, that makes everyone in the city less safe,” he said.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Sahan Journal that the agency does not “discuss future or potential operations.”
“What makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally,” read her statement.
