Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that the Trump administration is terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in the U.S
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump will end temporary deportation protections and work permits for some Somali nationals living in the United States, officials have announced.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that the Trump administration is terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in the U.S.
TPS allows migrants to remain in the country and work legally when conditions in their home countries are considered unsafe.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” Noem said in a statement. “Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
The move is expected to affect about 1,100 people and is likely to be challenged in court.
The Somali community has frequently been targeted by the Trump administration. Trump has previously referred to Somalis in derogatory terms and portrayed them as criminals.
In recent weeks, the administration has accused Somalis in the U.S. of widespread public benefits fraud, particularly in Minnesota, which is home to the country’s largest Somali community, estimated at about 80,000 people.
Trump has threatened to revoke the U.S. citizenship of any naturalised Somali or other foreign-born individual convicted of fraud. “We’re going to revoke the citizenship of any naturalised immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens,” he said on Tuesday.
The administration has also cut Minnesota’s access to federal childcare assistance and increased the presence of immigration enforcement agents in the state, prompting criticism and condemnation from local and state officials over what they describe as aggressive immigration raids.
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