Activists prepare for more targeting of Somali residents by ICE as Trump renews racist tirade
As Donald Trump went on another extended racist tirade against Somalis on Wednesday, Minneapolis activists prepared for more targeting of the community by conducting trainings on their rights and planning how they would protect their neighbors.
In the White House on Wednesday, a reporter asked the president about Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, who has defended the Somali community. Trump responded: “I wouldn’t be proud to have the largest Somalian – look at their nation. Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other. Look, these Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. Billions and billions.”
He again mentioned Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is Somali and a US citizen, saying she shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress and “should be thrown the hell out of our country”. The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, he said, was “crooked” and “incompetent”.
“Those Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain,” he said. “You have her – she’s always talking about ‘the constitution provides me with uhhhh’. Go back to your own country and figure out your constitution. All she does is complain about this country and without this country she would not be in very good shape. She probably wouldn’t be alive right now. Somalia is considered by many to be the worst country on Earth. I don’t know. I haven’t been there, I won’t be there anytime soon, I hope.”
