White House ‘looking at’ denaturalising Somali Americans for alleged fraud

United States President Donald Trump has unleashed different onslaught connected Somali Americans, with the White House saying the medication is reviewing plans to portion citizenship from those convicted of fraud.

The statements connected Wednesday came a time aft the Trump medication froze $185m successful national subsidies for low-income childcare amid claims of fraud astatine daycares tally by Somali Americans successful Minnesota’s largest city, Minneapolis.

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In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that “much of Minnesota Fraud, up to 90%, is caused by radical that came into our Country, illegally, from Somalia”.

He besides repeated attacks connected Somali American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, calling her “one of the galore scammers”.

“Send them backmost from wherever they came, Somalia, possibly the worst, and astir corrupt, state connected earth,” Trump wrote.

Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said successful an interrogation connected Fox News that the medication was “looking at” perchance revoking citizenship from Somali Americans convicted of fraud.

She said that denaturalisation remained “a instrumentality astatine the president and the caput of state’s disposal”.

Trump and his allies person repeatedly threatened to portion citizenship from an array of naturalised citizens: those calved extracurricular the US but who get citizenship done the government’s migration processes.

While ineligible experts person noted that citizenship tin beryllium stripped from foreign-born citizens, the signifier is exceedingly uncommon and often requires a precocious load of proof, showing an idiosyncratic was naturalised nether mendacious pretences.

Heightened scrutiny

Trump has regularly demonised migrant communities passim his governmental career.

That rhetoric was a hallmark stretching backmost to his archetypal palmy bid for president successful 2016. While connected the run trail, successful 2015, helium claimed that Mexico was sending “rapists” and criminals crossed the confederate borderline into the US, spurring outrage.

Later, during his statesmanlike tally successful 2024, helium repeated baseless claims against Haitians surviving successful Illinois, including that they were sidesplitting and eating pets.

In caller weeks, Trump has focused connected Somali Americans, comparing them to “garbage” and criticising the ineligible pathways that allowed them into the country. He further claimed they were “destroying America”.

Lawmakers, assemblage groups, and governmental organisations decried Trump’s statements arsenic blatantly racist.

But Trump has accompanied his rhetoric with action. Over the past month, his medication has surged migration enforcement agents to Minnesota, conducted a wide-scale audit of ineligible Somali immigrants, and prioritised investigations of fraud claims successful the state.

His efforts person seized upon a ungraded that has rattled the midwestern authorities successful caller years.

Prosecutors person alleged that criminals person defrauded the authorities of astir $9bn successful misused societal assistance backing and astir $300m successful misused COVID funding.

Attorney General Pam Bondi connected Monday said the Justice Department has charged 98 individuals successful Minnesota arsenic portion of its wide-ranging fraud investigation, adding that 85 of those charged were of “Somali descent”.

However, galore of those charges pre-date Trump’s 2nd term.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has besides changeable backmost that section and national authorities person spent years combatting fraud successful the state, which helium called a “serious issue”.

In a station connected the societal media level X connected Wednesday, Walz said Trump is “using an contented helium doesn’t springiness a damn astir arsenic an excuse to wounded moving Minnesotans”.

Some of the Trump administration’s actions person travel successful the aftermath of a viral video uploaded by blimpish YouTube Nick Shirley, who claimed Somali American-run daycare centres successful Minneapolis had committed up to $100m successful fraud.

Shirley’s video has received 127 cardinal views connected X, and medication officials, including Bondi, person repeatedly cited his claims.

For instance, connected Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel said successful a societal media station that his organisation “is alert of caller societal media reports successful Minnesota”.

He added that the bureau had “surged unit and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting national programmes”.

Still, questions person arisen implicit the accuracy of Shirley’s video.

An probe by CBS News this week recovered that “all but two” of the daycares featured successful the video had progressive licences and “were visited by authorities regulators wrong the past six months”.

Those regulators issued respective citations, according to the report, but “there was nary recorded grounds of fraud”.