美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)周二结束了内阁会议，对索马里移民进行了批评，称他们是“垃圾”，并表示他不希望他们留在美国。
“你知道，我们的国家正处于一个转折点。我们可能会变坏。我们正处于转折点。我不知道人们是否介意我这么说，但我要说，”特朗普说。“我们可以这样或那样，和如果我们继续这样下去，我们会走错路的垃圾进入我们的国家。"
他认为代表明尼苏达州的索马里裔美国众议员伊尔汉·奥马尔也有同样的描述回答在社交媒体上，特朗普“对我的痴迷令人毛骨悚然。”
“我希望他得到急需的帮助，”她补充道。
特朗普对美国索马里社区的攻击与去年形成了鲜明对比，当时他正在竞选连任，并获得了该投票集团的支持。
特朗普被问及为什么明尼苏达州的索马里人社区应该支持他一次采访2024年7月与播客主持人Liz Collin。
“因为他们想要安全，他们想要安全……他们像其他人一样想要安全，”他在采访中说，采访发生在明尼苏达州圣克劳德的一次集会之前，那里也有相当多的索马里人。
明尼苏达州的索马里裔美国人萨尔曼·菲基(Salman Fiqy)是特朗普在社区中最直言不讳的支持者之一，说2024年7月，他接受了《沙汗日报》的采访，讲述了他如何应对特朗普的反穆斯林言论，包括2017年的“穆斯林禁令”
“他用错误的方式摩擦了我们，”Fiqy在2024年说，指的是特朗普当时关于索马里难民的声明。“但我认为大多数人意识到这是一个政治声明，旨在巩固他的基础。”
总统对索马里社区，特别是明尼苏达州社区的指责是在首席执行官和明尼苏达州州长蒂姆·瓦尔兹(Tim Walz)之间的来回交锋中进行的，特朗普在报道的福利“丑闻”中要求后者辞职。
纽约时报刊登了调查上周，索马里移民涉嫌欺诈明尼苏达州的社会服务系统。《纽约时报》的报道详细描述了执法官员的说法，即在过去五年中，“欺诈在明尼苏达州的索马里侨民群体中生根发芽。”
据报道，批评者说，一些所谓的欺诈行为仍在继续，因为瓦尔兹领导下的国家官员不想疏远索马里人民。
在回应《纽约时报》的调查时，沃尔兹说在一篇社交媒体帖子中星期二，他欢迎“支持调查和起诉犯罪。但搞公关噱头，不加区别地针对移民，并不是解决问题的真正办法。”
众议院监督委员会主席詹姆斯·科莫(James Comer)已对这些指控展开调查，并正在寻求沃尔兹和明尼苏达州司法部长基思·埃里森(Keith Ellison)的文件和通信。Walz和Ellison必须在12月17日之前向委员会提供所要求的信息。
监督和政府改革委员会正在调查明尼苏达州社会服务项目中广泛存在的欺诈行为。委员会严重关注你作为州长和民主党控制的政府如何允许数百万美元被盗，”卡莫在给沃尔兹的一封信中写道。
美国广播公司新闻部联系了沃尔兹，请他就调查发表评论。
特朗普抓住了最近几天不断膨胀的争议，因为他还将长期政敌奥马尔与福利纠纷联系起来——最近几周他也重复了这一点。
大多数索马里人最初抵达时根据美国人口普查局的数据，20世纪90年代内战后，美国有超过260，000名索马里人过着体面的生活。
根据人口普查，大约73%的索马里移民是入籍公民。
明尼阿波利斯市市长雅各布·弗雷告诉记者，该市有8万多名索马里移民，其中大多数是美国公民。
周二下午，他反驳了政府的言论，并表示该市将袖手旁观索马里社区。
“当人们被联邦移民代理人逮捕时，他们将抓错人，这将是一个现实的必然性。他们会犯错误，”他说。“他们会把事情搞得如此糟糕，他们不仅违反了人身保护令，还剥夺了美国公民的权利。”
特朗普的反移民言论也在上周一名阿富汗国民涉嫌在华盛顿特区枪杀两名国民警卫队成员后有所增加。Rahmanullah Lakanwal，29岁，被指控周二谋杀。
联邦边境事务主管汤姆·霍曼(Tom Homan)周二表示，明尼苏达州的美国移民和海关执法活动将“增加”，但拒绝透露何时会发生。
“是的，那里的活动将会增加，”霍曼告诉福克斯新闻。“我们将追究人们的责任。我们将毫无歉意地执行这个国家的法律。”
明尼阿波利斯市议会议员贾马尔·奥斯曼批评特朗普政府“其他化”人口。
他说:“我们的索马里裔美国邻居——其中绝大多数是美国公民——应该在自己的国家感到安全。”说在社交媒体上。“为什么有些‘另类’美国人?难道我们什么都没学到吗?”
Trump describes Somali immigrants as 'garbage' amid feud with Minnesota congresswoman, governor
President Donald Trump ended his Cabinet meeting on Tuesday by unleashing criticism on Somali immigrants, whom he described as "garbage," saying he doesn't want them in the United States.
"You know, our country's at a tipping point. We could go bad. We're at a tipping point. I don't know if people mind me saying that, but I'm saying it," Trump said. "We could go one way or the other, andwe're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking ingarbageinto our country."
He ascribed the same description to Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali American who represents Minnesota, whorepliedon social media that Trump's "obsession with me is creepy."
"I hope he gets the help he desperately needs," she added.
Trump's attacks on the American Somali community come as a major contrast to last year when he was campaigning for reelection and gained support from that voting bloc.
Trump was asked about why the Minnesota Somali community should support him duringan interviewwith podcast host Liz Collin in July 2024.
"Because they want safety, they want security … they want security just like everybody else," he said in the interview, which took place prior to a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, which also has a sizable Somali population.
Salman Fiqy, a Somali American in Minnesota who emerged as one of Trump’s most vocal supporters within the community,spoketo the Sahan Journal in July 2024, about how he squared Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric, including the 2017 "Muslim ban."
"He rubbed us the wrong way," Fiqy said in 2024, referring to Trump’s statements on Somali refugees at the time. "But I think the majority realize it was a political statement to rally his base."
The president's rebuke on the Somalian community, specifically those in Minnesota, came amid a back-and-forth between the chief executive and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who Trump called on to resign amid a reported welfare "scandal."
The New York Times publishedan investigationlast week on fraud allegedly perpetrated by Somali immigrants against Minnesota's social services system. The Times' account detailed law enforcement officials' claims that over the past five years, "fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora."
Critics reportedly said that some of that alleged fraud continued because state officials under Walz didn't want to alienate the Somali population.
In response to The New York Times' investigation, Walz saidin a social media postTuesday that hewelcomes "support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem."
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has launched an investigation into the allegations and is seeking documents and communications from Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Walz and Ellison have until Dec. 17 to provide the requested information to the panel.
"The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating reports of widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs. The Committee has serious concerns about how you as the Governor, and the Democrat-controlled administration, allowed millions of dollars to be stolen," Comer wrote in a letter to Walz.
ABC News has reached out to Walz for comment about the probe.
Trump has seized on the ballooning controversy in recent days as he also linked Omar, a longtime political foe, to the welfare dissension -- something he’s also repeated in recent weeks.
Most Somalis initially arrivedin the U.S. as refugees following the civil war in the 1990s with over 260,000 people of Somali decent living across the country, according to the U.S. census.
Approximately 73% of Somali Immigrants are naturalized citizens, according to the census.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told reporters that the city is home to more than 80,000 Somali immigrants and most are U.S. citizens.
He pushed back against the administration's rhetoric Tuesday afternoon and said the city would stand by the Somali community.
"It will be a practical inevitability that when people are arrested by federal immigration agents, they're going to get the wrong people. They're going to make mistakes," he said. "They're going to screw it up so badly that they're not just violating habeas corpus, but they are taking away the rights of American citizens."
Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric has also increased following the alleged shooting last week of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., by an Afghan national. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29,was chargedon Tuesday with murder.
Tom Homan, the federal border czar, said on Tuesday that there will be an "increase" in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Minnesota, but declined to give any insight into when that may happen.
"Yes, there’s going to be an increase of activity up there," Homan told FOX News. "We’re going to hold people accountable. We are going to enforce the laws of this country without apology."
Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman criticized the Trump administration for "othering" a population.
"Our Somali American neighbors -- the vast majority of them U.S. citizens -- deserve to feel safe in their own country," hesaidon social media. "Why are some 'othering' Americans? Have we learned nothing?"
