(NewsNation) — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty criticized President Donald Trump’s use of the word “garbage” to describe the state’s Somali population, but agreed the community does play a role in a recent fraud case.
Dozens of people have been arrested in Minnesota in relation to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, which the Department of Justice said saw at least $1.1 million of federal funds misused.
“For those who engaged in misconduct and legal behavior, the full force of the law should come down on them,” Pawlenty said on “NewsNation Live.” “But we shouldn’t stigmatize whole groups.”
He said there is danger in “stigmatizing any ethnic group, any racial group, any religious group.”
“I don’t think we want to start having those kinds of words applied to whole groups,” he added.
Minnesota is home to the country’s largest Somali community, with about 107,000 residents as of 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The bureau reports that nationally, 73% of Somali immigrants are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Earlier this week, Trump said he does not want Somali migrants in the U.S. because they have “destroyed Minnesota,” continuing on to characterize them — and Somali Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. — “garbage.”
Current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has denounced Trump’s rhetoric as an “unprecedented” and said it slanders all Minnesotans.
ICE operations targeting Minnesota’s Somali population
Trump has set his sights on Minnesota for the latest round of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, with Somalis at the center. Last week, he also ended “Temporary Protected Status” for Somali nationals, “effective immediately.”
Several local outlets have reported federal immigration operations are underway in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Walz wrote on X: “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to the problem.”
Pawlenty decried the cities’ sanctuary policies — which prevent local authorities from cooperating with federal entities, like ICE — as “stupid.”
“When you have an ICE operation in a city like Minneapolis, and the locals refuse to protect those ICE officers, it leaves the federal entities no choice but to bring in federal police and others to protect ICE,” Pawlenty said.
Walz and other top Democrats in the state have backed its policies throughout the Trump administration’s nationwide operations.
NewsNation’s Ali Bradley and Jeff Arnold contributed to this report.