US President Donald Trump has said he does not want Somali immigrants in the US, telling Reporters they should “go back to where they came from” and “their country is no good for a reason.
His disparaging comments came as immigration authorities were reported to be planning an enforcement operation in Minnesota’s large Somali community.
Officials in the state have condemned the plan, arguing it could unfairly sweep up American citizens who may appear to be from the East African nation.
Trump’s comments represent an intensification of his recent attacks on Minnesota’s Somali community, whose decades-long protected status in the US he recently pledged to revoke, and its Democratic politicians.
Trump recently expanded his months-long immigration crackdown in the wake of last week’s shooting of two National Guard members in Washington DC, which was allegedly perpetrated by an Afghan who moved to the US. Trump did not refer to that incident while speaking about Somalis.
He then turned to criticising Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat and the first Somali-American to be elected to Congress with whom he has clashed repeatedly for a number of years.
