明尼苏达州的一些索马里人社区表示，美国移民和海关执法局已经开始在该州开展执法行动。
明尼阿波利斯市议员贾马尔·奥斯曼是索马里裔，上周三在接受美国广播公司采访时告诉记者，英语作为第二语言的课程，礼拜场所和住宅都成为了目标。
明尼苏达州部署ICE的时间是在唐纳德·特朗普总统之后造就了明尼苏达州庞大的索马里社区在上周二的内阁会议上，他说他不希望那些来自东北非洲国家的人在美国，因为“他们什么贡献也没有。”
“这不是我想象中的美国，”奥斯曼说。“我们看到的不仅仅是政治;很危险。”
这位议员说，那些有社会安全号码和工作许可证的人，那些等待庇护面谈的人，以及美国公民都成为目标。奥斯曼说，人们害怕离开他们的房子，他建议那些索马里血统的人无论去哪里都要携带护照。
“我从来不知道有一天你必须在美国出示你的合法证件(因为你看起来像索马里人)，”奥斯曼周三对美国广播公司新闻说。“但事实是，人们不会不带护照就离开家。”
据美联社报道，ICE周四表示，特工在其明尼苏达州的执法行动中逮捕了12人。根据新闻采集服务，其中六人是墨西哥国民，五人来自索马里，一人来自萨尔瓦多。
负责监管移民及海关执法局的国土安全部没有立即回应美国广播公司(ABC News)要求更新被捕人数的请求。
明尼阿波利斯的索马里裔移民律师阿米安·哈伦(Amiin Harun)周三在接受美国广播公司(ABC)采访时表示，生活在明尼苏达州的绝大多数索马里人都是公民、永久居民或有证件的寻求庇护者。
DHS发言人Tricia McLaughlin周三告诉ABC新闻，该机构执行国家法律。
麦克劳克林在她的声明中说:“使某人成为ICE目标的不是他们的种族或民族，而是他们非法入境的事实。”“我们不讨论未来或潜在的行动。”
麦克劳克林没有回答ABC新闻关于明尼苏达州是否已经启动ICE执法的问题。
哈伦周三告诉美国广播公司新闻，他的一位拥有美国永久身份的客户周二在家中受到了ICE特工的探视。律师说，在她能够提供合法身份的证明之前，特工占据了她的住所三个小时，使她非常焦虑和害怕。
“我不希望他们出现在我们的国家;我跟你说实话。有人会说，‘哦，这在政治上是不正确的。’我不在乎。我不希望他们出现在我们的国家。他们的国家不好是有原因的。他们的国家很臭，”特朗普谈到索马里移民时说在上周二的内阁会议上。“如果我们继续把垃圾带进我们的国家，我们就会走错路。”
当美国广播公司新闻问及他对总统关于他的社区的言论的看法时，奥斯曼显得很难过。
这位议员说:“害怕整个国家只是看着我们，把我们看作垃圾和没人性的人。”“没有人类是垃圾。”
特朗普发表上述言论的前一天，众议院监督委员会主席詹姆斯·卡莫(James Comer)在美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)周三获得的一份声明中宣布，该委员会已开始调查以明尼苏达州索马里社区为中心的欺诈指控。
在特朗普的内阁会议评论之前，《纽约时报》11月30日的调查执法部门的详细声明称，在过去的五年里，“欺诈行为在明尼苏达州的索马里侨民群体中生根发芽，因为许多人通过成立公司赚了小钱，这些公司向国家机构收取从未提供的价值数百万美元的社会服务。"
奥斯曼承认，某些人很可能存在欺诈行为。
“这是一个正义的过程，”奥斯曼周三告诉美国广播公司新闻。“这是一个过程，但我们不应该责怪整个社区。”
据美联社报道，检察官估计盗窃金额为3亿美元。美联社报道，被告人数约为78人，他们的案件仍在审理中。
“明尼苏达州有超过8万名索马里人，”明尼苏达州参议员扎纳布·穆罕默德周五在接受美国广播公司采访时表示。“所以我们谈论的是少数犯了罪的人。”
众议院监督委员会上周在一份声明中表示，作为调查的一部分，共和党人卡莫已致函明尼苏达州州长蒂姆·瓦尔兹和司法部长基思·埃里森，寻求文件、通信和记录。
根据众议院监督委员会(House Oversight Committee)周三的声明，卡莫在给沃尔兹的信中写道:“委员会严重关切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。”。
Walz在周四的新闻发布会上说，他的办公室正在努力将明尼苏达州参与欺诈的人绳之以法，但他说，这可以在不对整个群体进行概括的情况下完成。
沃尔兹在周四的新闻发布会上说:“你可以做到这一点，而不会带有种族主义和卑鄙的色彩，也不会让人们处于危险之中。”。“你可以做到这一点，而不必因为少数人利用了这个系统而取消改善人们生活的项目。”
司法部长基思·埃里森(Keith Ellison)在提到特朗普和ICE在明尼苏达州的部署时没有拐弯抹角。
“唐纳德·特朗普对明尼苏达州索马里人社区的可耻攻击正在向我们热爱的家乡注入更多他的有毒种族主义，”埃里森周二在X邮报上说。“听到他仅仅根据我们的种族和原籍国挑出我们的人，真是令人作呕。”
据美联社报道，明尼苏达州拥有美国最大的索马里社区，约有87，000名居民。大多数人自20世纪90年代以来为逃离索马里旷日持久的内战而来到这里。
特朗普在周二的内阁会议上表示，索马里移民高度依赖美国的社会安全网，没有增加什么。
“我们是你的医生，你的护士，”穆罕默德周五在接受美国广播公司采访时说。“我们是在你上班的时候照顾你父母的人。”
明尼阿波利斯市长雅各布·弗雷在周四的新闻发布会上说，索马里社区是明尼阿波利斯“结构”的一部分，使这个城市成为“一个更好的地方”。
“我们已经收到了一些联邦特工参与某种形式活动的零星事件的报告。在许多情况下，这些活动主要是围绕恐吓人民，”弗雷在周四的新闻发布会上说。
特朗普上个月在一个真实的社交帖子中说，他将结束明尼苏达州索马里人的临时保护身份，这是来自某些经历困难的国家的移民免受驱逐的合法保障。哈伦周三告诉美国广播公司新闻，全国大约有705名索马里人被TPS覆盖。
“这个国家有着不同种族群体在不同时期成为目标的历史——无论是意大利人、爱尔兰人、日本人、美洲土著人还是非洲裔美国人。这就是索马里社区正在发生的事情，”哈伦对美国广播公司新闻说。“我只是敦促我们所有人站在一起，捍卫。当我们中的一个人受到攻击时，我们都会受到攻击。”
Somalis in Minnesota say ICE agents already targeting their community
Some of Minnesota's Somali community said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents already begun enforcement operations in the state.
Minneapolis Councilman Jamal Osman, who is of Somali descent, told ABC News in an interview last Wednesday that locations for English as a second language courses, places of worship and homes have been targeted.
The deployment of ICE in Minnesota comes at a time after President Donald Trumpbrought up Minnesota's large Somali communityin last Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, saying he did not want those from the northeast African country in America because "they contribute nothing."
"This is not the America that I imagine," Osman said. "What we're seeing is not just politics; it's dangerous."
The councilman said those with social security numbers and work permits, and those waiting for asylum interviews have been targeted, as well as U.S. citizens. Osman said that people are afraid to leave their houses, and he is advising those of Somali descent to carry passports everywhere they go.
"[I] never knew there will be a day that you have to show your legal document in the United States [because you look Somali]," Osman said to ABC News on Wednesday. "But the reality is people are not leaving home without their passport."
ICE said on Thursday that agents had arrested 12 people in its Minnesota enforcement operation, the Associated Press reported. Of those, six are Mexican nationals, five are from Somalia and one is from El Salvador, according to the news gathering service.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for an update on the number of people arrested.
Amiin Harun, an immigration attorney of Somali descent in Minneapolis, told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that the vast majority of Somalis living in Minnesota are citizens, permanent residents or documented asylum seekers.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told ABC News on Wednesday that the agency enforces the laws of the nation.
"What makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally," McLaughlin said in her statement. "We do not discuss future or potential operations."
McLaughlin did not reply to ABC News' question about whether ICE enforcement had already launched in Minnesota.
Harun told ABC News on Wednesday that one of his clients who has permanent status to be in the U.S. was visited by ICE agents at her home on Tuesday. The attorney said the agents occupied her residence for three hours before she was able to provide proof of her legal status, causing her much anxiety and fear.
"I don't want them in our country; I'll be honest with you. Somebody will say, 'Oh, that's not politically correct.' I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks,"Trump said of Somali immigrantsin last Tuesday's Cabinet meeting. "And we're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country."
Osman appeared saddened when ABC News asked his thoughts on the president's remarks about his community.
"The fear of having the entire nation just look and see us, and look at us as garbage and less human," the councilman said. "No human is a garbage."
Trump's comments came a day before House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced in a statement obtained by ABC News on Wednesday that the committee has started an investigation into claims of fraud that center on Minnesota's Somali community.
Prior to Trump's Cabinet meeting comments,a Nov. 30 New York Times investigationdetailed claims from law enforcement that over the past five years, "fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota's Somali diaspora, as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars' worth of social services that were never provided."
Osman conceded that there very well could have been fraud taking place with certain individuals.
"There is a process of justice," Osman told ABC News on Wednesday. "There's that process, but we should not be having the whole entire community blamed."
Estimates of the theft have been estimated at $300 million by prosecutors, according to the AP. The number of defendants, whose cases are still being processed, is approximately 78, the AP reported.
"There are over 80,000 people in Minnesota who are Somalis," Minnesota State Sen. Zaynab Mohamed told ABC News in an interview on Friday. "So we're talking about few people who have committed crimes."
Comer -- a Republican -- has sent letters to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison seeking documents, communications and records as part of the investigation, the House Oversight Committee said in a statement last week.
"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 to Walz, according to the House Oversight Committee’s Wednesday statement.
Walz said in a press conference on Thursday that his office is working to bring those involved in fraud in Minnesota to justice, but said it can be done without generalizations about a whole group of people.
"You can do that without being racist and vile and putting people at risk," Walz said at a Thursday news conference. "You can do that without canceling programs that improve people's lives because a few people took advantage of the system."
Attorney General Keith Ellison did not mince words when referring to Trump and ICE's deployment in Minnesota.
"Donald Trump's disgraceful attacks on Minnesota's Somali community are injecting more of his poisonous racism into our beloved home state," Ellison said in an X post on Tuesday. "Hearing him single out our people based solely on their race and country of origin is downright disgusting."
Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the U.S. with roughly 87,000 residents, according to the AP. Most have been coming since the 1990s to escape a protracted civil war in Somalia.
During his Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said that Somali immigrants are highly dependent on the U.S. social safety net and add little.
"We are your doctors, your nurses," Mohamed said to ABC News in an interview on Friday. "We are the people who are taking care of your parents while you go to work."
MORE: Immigration crackdown expands as federal agents sweep into New Orleans, Minneapolis
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a Thursday press conference that the Somali community is part of the "fabric" of Minneapolis and makes the city a "better place".
"We have received reports about a number of scattered incidents in which federal agents were involved in some form of activity. In many cases, those activities are largely built around terrorizing people," Frey said at a news conference on Thursday.
Trump said in a Truth Social post last month that he would end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota, a lawful safeguard from deportation for immigrants from certain countries experiencing hardship. Harun told ABC News on Wednesday that roughly 705 Somalis nationwide are covered by TPS.
"This country has a history of different ethnic groups being targeted at different times -- whether it's the Italians, the Irish, the Japanese, the Native Americans, African Americans. This is just what's happening to the Somali community," Harun said to ABC News. "I would just urge all of us to stand together and to defend. When one of us is attacked, we're all being attacked."
