Recent statements by U.S. President Donald Trump and top administration officials disparaging Minnesota’s large Somali community have focused renewed attention on the immigrants from the war-torn east African country and their descendants.

Trump on Tuesday said he did not want Somalis in the U.S. because “they contribute nothing.”

The president spoke soon after a person familiar with the planning said federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S.

An estimated 260,000 people of Somali descent were living in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The largest population is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to about

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