Faith Nyasuguta
The United States government has announced plans to end deportation protections and work permits for some Somali nationals living in the country, a decision that is already stirring controversy and is expected to face legal challenges.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that the administration of President Donald Trump would terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali nationals. TPS allows migrants from countries deemed unsafe to remain in the US temporarily and grants them permission to work legally. According to Noem, conditions in Somalia have improved enough to no longer justify the protection.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” Noem said. She added that continuing to allow Somali nationals to remain in the US under TPS was “contrary to our national interests,” stressing that the administration was focused on “putting Americans first.”
The move is expected to affect around 1,100 people, many of whom have lived in the US for years under the protection of TPS. Immigration advocates warn that ending the programme could expose families to deportation and economic hardship, particularly those who have built their lives around legal work authorisation.
The decision comes amid increasingly sharp rhetoric and actions by the Trump administration toward the Somali community. The president has previously made offensive remarks about Somalis, portraying them as criminals and accusing the community of widespread abuse of public benefits. In recent weeks, the administration has intensified its criticism, alleging large-scale public assistance fraud within Minnesota’s Somali population, the largest in the US at roughly 80,000 people.
Trump has gone further, threatening to revoke the citizenship of any naturalised Somali – or any 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.
Federal actions have also targeted Minnesota more broadly. The administration has cut off the state’s access to federal childcare assistance and deployed additional immigration enforcement agents, sparking anger from local leaders and civil rights groups. Reports of aggressive raids, including heavily armed officers detaining residents and demanding proof of citizenship, have raised alarm about possible rights violations.
Tensions escalated further last week after a federal immigration agent shot and killed Renee Good, a US citizen and mother of three, who was serving as a legal monitor of immigration activity in Minneapolis. The incident has intensified scrutiny of federal enforcement tactics and deepened concerns within immigrant communities nationwide.
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