(The Hill) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) fired back at President Trump, referencing him in a Thanksgiving rant.
“Release the MRI results,” Walz wrote on the social platform X. Trump said last month that he underwent an MRI as part of a visit to Walter Reed Military Center, but the White House has not revealed the results of the scan.
In a lengthy Thursday post on his Truth Social platform, the president attacked Walz, calling him a slur used to demean those with disabilities and saying the Minnesota governor “does nothing” regarding the number of Somalian refugees in his state, either “through fear, incompetence, or both.”
“Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota,” Trump claimed. “Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone.”
Minnesota is home to the country’s largest Somali community, with roughly 107,000 residents as of 2024, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Last Friday, the president ended legal protections for Somali residents of Minnesota “effective immediately,” claiming that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State.”
Congress reported in August that 705 Somalis in the U.S. have temporary protected status.
The Trump administration is also reexamining green cards given to migrants from Somalia and 18 other countries after the suspected shooter of two National Guard members was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who came to the U.S. in 2021.
One National Guard member who was targeted in Wednesday’s shooting, 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, died Thursday. The other, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains hospitalized in critical condition.