U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced Tuesday that Somalis in the United States with temporary protected status must leave the country by March 17. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 13 (UPI) — The Trump administration said Tuesday it’s ending the temporary protected status for Somali immigrants, giving those with the designation until March 17 to leave the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the expiration of the TPS in 60 days. “Temporary means temporary,” she said in a statement.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
President Donald Trump announced his intentions to end Somalia’s TPS in November. The country has had the designation since 1991 and former President Joe Biden renewed the protections Sept. 18, 2024. It’s due for renewal March 17.
“I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post at the time.
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
He provided no evidence for his allegations of gangs, but Somali communities in the state — particularly in Minneapolis — has faced increased scrutiny by the Trump administration.
In December, Trump sent a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area amid reports of widespread fraud targeting state support programs.
The New York Times reported dozens of Somali migrants were charged with crimes in which they are accused of creating businesses that defrauded the state by billing state agencies for more than $1 billion in services for children that never were provided. Federal prosecutors said 59 people already have been convicted of related crimes.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze federal child care funding to the state amid the accusations of fraud.
One of the ICE agents sent to carry out immigration enforcement in Minneapolis shot and killed a woman allegedly using her vehicle to disrupt a convoy of federal immigration officials.
ICE said the woman, Renee Nicole Good, was trying to run over the agent who shot her, but some bystanders and city officials said she was trying to drive away from the scene.
Good’s death has sparked protests across the country by people concerned about an increase in federal immigration enforcement.
People hold a silent vigil outside 26 Federal Plaza in New York City on July 24, 2025. Photo by Angelina Katsanis/UPI | License Photo