The Trump administration said it would end temporary deportation protections for Somalis, targeting one of the largest immigrant communities in Minnesota.
The decision, announced by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt by linking on X to a Fox News article, indicates Somali recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would need to leave the country by March 17. According to the National Immigration Forum, 705 Somalis are covered by TPS.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move is highly likely to be tied up in court. In several other instances, judges have found the Trump administration ran afoul of the law by failing to study conditions in the designated county and share their reasoning on the Federal Register before ending TPS.
Nonetheless, it’s the latest escalation of the administration’s focus on Minnesota in the wake of the death of Renee Macklin Good, who was killed by an immigration officer last week.
Minneapolis and state officials sued the Trump administration Monday, saying the 2,000 immigration officers on the ground were creating a public safety threat and were dispatched as a retaliatory move against the largely Democratic leadership there.