Fearless. Independent. Unbought.

By Warsame Digital Media (WDM)

Introduction: The Rhetoric of Division

In recent days, Donald Trump has escalated a long-standing pattern of rhetoric against Somali-Americans, using language that crosses from political criticism into outright derogation, having called them “garbage” and stating, “I don’t want them in our country.” This editorial examines these attacks not just as inflammatory speech, but as part of a concerted political and legal strategy that demands a factual response.

The Minnesota Context: A Community of Citizens, Not “Invaders”

Trump’s focus is Minnesota, home to the nation’s largest Somali community, with an estimated 84,000 people in the Twin Cities area and about 260,000 nationwide. Contrary to the narrative of a foreign “invasion,” about 95% of this community are U.S. citizens or legal residents. They are not newcomers; families have built lives over decades. They are the nurses, truck drivers, business owners, and, yes, the sitting U.S. Representative—Ilhan Omar—that Trump vilifies.

The administration’s actions create a climate of fear. Trump terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis, a humanitarian protection first granted in 1991. Now, reports indicate a planned ICE operation specifically targeting undocumented Somalis in Minneapolis-St. Paul. While the Department of Homeland Security states enforcement is based on immigration status, the simultaneous public vilification of the entire community paints a clear picture.

By the Numbers: The Facts Trump Ignores

Let us be brutally factual, because Trump’s narrative collapses under the weight of data. The Somali-American community in Minnesota is:

· A rapidly growing part of the state’s social and economic fabric.
· A key driver in revitalizing neighborhoods and commercial corridors, credited by local mayors for bringing new life to their cities.
· A contributor of billions in taxes and commerce, forming one of the fastest-growing Black middle classes in the Midwest.

This is not a threat—it is an asset. But Trump sees a problem: successful immigrants undermine his myth that he alone can “save” America from the people who are actively building it.

Deconstructing the Narrative: The Fraud Case in Context

Trump’s justification often points to a major federal fraud case in Minnesota, where prosecutors allege a $300 million scheme against a child nutrition program involving “roughly 70 people,” many from the Somali community. It is a serious crime. However, using the crimes of a few to label an entire community of tens of thousands as monolithic “garbage” is the definition of bigotry.

The strategic choice to amplify this single case while ignoring the community’s vast contributions is a calculated political tactic, not a genuine assessment of public safety. His entire political machinery requires enemies. Without them, his rallies would be nothing but an aging billionaire ranting into a microphone about people who refuse to applaud him.

Merkel’s Nuanced Legacy vs. Trump’s Calculated Bigotry

The editorial’s original contrast between leaders is instructive but requires nuance. In 2015, Angela Merkel confronted a moral test with the declaration “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do this”), welcoming over a million refugees. It was an act of courage that defined her generation.

However, by 2018, political pressures forced a significant toughening of German and EU migration policy, including proposals for detention centers and accelerated deportations. This doesn’t equate her policy to Trump’s rhetoric but illustrates a complex reality: even leaders guided by principle face political limits. Trump, by contrast, faces no such internal compromise; he manufactures and weaponizes vulnerability as his core strategy. Merkel asked how to help those fleeing. Trump asks why we should not fear them.

Why Trump Targets Somalis: The Real Political Calculus

Trump is not confused. He is strategic. Somali-Americans are:

· Black
· Muslim
· Immigrant
· Politically empowered (exemplified by Rep. Omar)
· Economically improving

In Trump’s worldview, this combination is intolerable. It is the antithesis of the America he wants to resurrect. When racist mobs chant “Send her back!” at a sitting member of Congress, Trump does not silence them. He conducts them. That is not leadership; it’s the orchestration of bigotry for political gain.

America’s Test: Resilience vs. Resentment

History presents a stark choice. Somali-Americans have endured civil war, famine, and displacement. They are now enduring a political campaign of fear. Yet, as St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter stated, Trump’s attacks are on Somali-Americans—on Americans.

The community’s response has been to assemble, organize, vote, and build. They turn exclusion into political mobilization. This is the real threat Trump fears: a minority that refuses to be silent, invisible, or grateful for mistreatment.

A Call to Action: From Witness to Participant

This is not a moment for passive observation. The targeting of a community based on race, faith, and origin is a threat to the foundational principle of equality under the law. History will judge not only the aggressor but also those who stood by. We therefore call on every reader to move beyond outrage to action:

1. Defend with Facts: Arm yourself with the truth. When you hear lies that Somali-Americans are “invaders” or “garbage,” cite the data: 95% are U.S. citizens or legal residents. Share stories of their contributions as business owners, healthcare workers, and civic leaders. Challenge the single-story narrative with the overwhelming reality of community resilience and success.
2. Support Tangibly: Patronize Somali-owned businesses. Attend community cultural events. Donate to or volunteer with local organizations like the Somali American Task Force or the American Refugee Committee that provide vital services and advocacy. Stand in solidarity at public forums and city council meetings.
3. Hold Power Accountable: Demand that every elected official, from city council members to U.S. Senators, publicly condemn racist rhetoric and discriminatory targeting. Contact your representatives and insist they support policies that protect all citizens and residents from discrimination, and oppose policies based on fearmongering. Make your vote contingent on their courage.

Silence is complicity. Apathy is consent. We must choose the America we want to build: one strengthened by its diversity and compassion, or one weakened by paranoia and division. The choice is in your hands, your voice, and your vote.

WDM’s Final Word

Trump will be remembered as a man who built walls. Somalis will be remembered as a people who climbed them. He will be remembered for dividing America; they will be remembered for expanding it.

When the smoke of his rallies clears and the chants fade, the Somali-American community will still be there, standing tall, building, contributing, and claiming its rightful place in the American story. Because unlike Trump, they don’t need fear to define their future. Their facts, their contributions, and their citizenship already do.

No human being is “garbage.” pic.twitter.com/WQZF3upAoq

— Terry Moran 🇺🇸 (@TerryMoran) December 3, 2025

Welcome to Minnesota — the so-called “State of Nice.” For ordinary Americans, that means free smiles, polite small talk, and a climate so cold it freezes problems before they start. But for the nation’s largest Somali community? It is becoming the “State of ICE” — and not the kind forming on the sidewalk.

The nearly 87,000 Somalis in the Minneapolis area are living a reality that is neither a dream nor a nightmare, but a calculated political limbo. The source of this anxiety is not abstract. It is a specific, planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation, first reported by The New York Times, that is set to target the Twin Cities. Teams of federal agents are preparing for a sweep focusing on Somali immigrants with final deportation orders, an action local mayors learned about from news reports, not official channels.

These wolves don’t howl at the moon. They howl at the word “immigrant” from the highest office in the land. The operation’s planning coincides precisely with President Donald Trump’s escalating rhetoric. He has referred to the Somali community and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar as “garbage” who should “go back to where they came from,” and stated, “I don’t want them in our country… They contribute nothing”. This, despite the fact that these very immigrants and refugees have transformed once-blighted areas like Minneapolis’s Lake Street corridor into thriving hubs of Somali-owned businesses, bakeries, and coffee shops. As community health worker Nasra Hassan put it, surveying the revitalized streets, “Where would America be without us?”.

THE SURREALITY OF LIVING BY THE NUMBERS

Here lies the first layer of the paradox. The political rhetoric paints a picture of a foreign, undocumented swarm. The data paints a different portrait:

· A majority are citizens. Approximately 95% of Somalis in Minnesota are U.S. citizens. Of the foreign-born, an overwhelming 87% are naturalized citizens.
· A community of Americans. About 58% of all Somalis in the state were born in the U.S.. These are the second-generation kids—born in American hospitals, fluent in English, cheering for the Minnesota Vikings—who now watch as their community is singled out.
· A targeted few. The administration has moved to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis, a program that, as of August, covered just 705 people nationwide. The planned ICE sweep is expected to target “hundreds”. The scale of the fear is deliberately disproportionate to the stated bureaucratic targets.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has vowed that city police will not participate, warning that such targeting means “American citizens will be detained for no other reason than the fact that they look like they are Somali”. Governor Tim Walz has dismissed the operation as a “PR stunt”.

THE GHOST IN THE LUGGAGE: CLAN, A STRUCTURE, NOT A MELODRAMA

As if this external pressure weren’t enough, the essay’s original critique of internal “clan theatrics” requires a crucial factual grounding. Clan affiliation is not merely petty politics or emotional baggage; it is a deep-seated socio-political structure forged in the crucible of state failure.

For decades, with no functioning central government to provide security or justice, Somalis have relied on their patrilineal clan and lineage for protection, resource access, and conflict mediation. This system is a rational adaptation to anarchy, but it comes with a brutal hierarchy. It privileges powerful majority clans with “long genealogies” and access to weapons, while structurally marginalizing minority groups. The U.S. Department of State notes that these minority clans face killings, torture, land theft, and severe discrimination, often with impunity.

This is the complex, life-and-death system that was packed in the luggage—not as a choice, but as an ingrained framework for social organization. Academic research confirms that clan-based conflict is a significant driver of displacement, with a strong statistical correlation to population flight. The danger in the diaspora is not that Somalis are “busy reenacting clan melodramas,” but that they might unintentionally transplant a structure built for survival in a lawless state into a democratic civic space where it can become a source of division.

The bitter irony is acute: while facing a political threat that collectively demonizes them as “Somali,” the community must navigate internal lines of division that trace back centuries. You cannot effectively organize against a monolithic label if you are fractured beneath it.

WDM’S VERDICT: FORGE A NEW CONTRACT

This is the moment of truth.
You cannot fight ICE, DHS suspicion, and presidential vilification while being divided by the ancient, survival-based logic of the clan.
You cannot protect your children’s future—a future where 50% are already U.S.-born—by applying a logic of patronage and exclusion from a homeland many have never seen.
You cannot demand to be seen as lawful, contributing Americans if your internal politics are not transparent and inclusive.

The call is not simply to “drop the clan.” That is naive. The call is to consciously, deliberately build a new social contract for the American context. The existing models are already here: organizations like the Somali Bantu Association of America focus not on lineage but on universal empowerment through ESL classes, citizenship prep, legal aid, and youth programs. They serve over 10,000 refugees of all backgrounds, building unity around shared needs, not shared ancestry.

A CALL TO THE DIASPORA

The era of blind trust is over. The wolves are here, their howls amplified by a megaphone. Your strength is in your numbers, your citizenship, your economic contributions, and your deep roots in cities like Minneapolis.

· Organize politically as Somalis and as Americans. Vote, lobby, and run for office not as representatives of a sub-clan, but of a united community with shared interests.
· Let your institutions reflect your reality. Build community centers, business associations, and advocacy groups that serve everyone, leveraging your strength for the common good.
· Tell your own story. Counter the narrative of “garbage” and “trouble” with the visible truth of revitalized streets, filled classrooms, and patriotic service.

THE FINAL WORD

Fear is not a strategy.
Clanism is not a shield.
Silence is not safety.

The Somali community in Minnesota stands at a crossroads. One path leads to being picked apart, both by external forces and internal fractures. The other leads to forging a new, powerful unity fit for the challenges of America. The choice is stark, and the time to choose is now. Because if you don’t consciously define your place in America, someone else will be all too happy to define it for you.

NOTE:

This essay has been fact-checked and revised with data from U.S. Census figures, reports from CNN, AP, PBS, and the European Union Agency for Asylum, and statements from local officials.