President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is ramping up in Minnesota, where deportation orders issued to Somali nationals have increased nearly tenfold over the past year.
More than 500 Somalis living in Minnesota have been ordered deported in 2026, according to federal immigration court data analyzed by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Meanwhile, a further thousand Somali asylum seekers have received deportation orders since February as the Trump administration moves to accelerate immigration cases that previously could languish in the system for years.
The administration terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia back in January, ending a program that shielded eligible Somali nationals from deportation regardless of whether they had another legal basis to remain.
.@POTUS: “We halted all refugee admissions from Somalia — a beautiful place — and other dangerous places. They can’t come in — we don’t want Somalia here! You know, they have a 98% unemployment rate, but they’re very good at ripping us off.” 🎯 https://t.co/mgmLY0nnaT pic.twitter.com/p6nLW5fr0S
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 3, 2026
They also created an expedited immigration court docket for Somali asylum cases in February, allowing judges to decide cases that had previously been scheduled far into the future.
Federal officials argue that the accelerated process benefits legitimate asylum seekers while ensuring unsuccessful applicants can actually be removed.
“Unnecessary delay hurts both aliens with meritorious claims and the American public who wish to see aliens with non-meritorious claims removed as quickly as possible,” an immigration court spokesman said.
Somalis say the Somali mall in Minneapolis is practically empty following the ICE raids.
Excellent! This means the raids are working and the illegals are getting deported.
Well done ICE! Keep up the pressure.
Deportations are patriotic! pic.twitter.com/JoOxTAjxAe
— STORM NEWS 📰🗞️ (@storm1news) August 10, 2026
The changes come as immigration courts remain overwhelmed by millions of unresolved cases.
Some Somali nationals with final removal orders have already been deported, while others have been transferred into federal detention.
ICE recently transported a group of eight detainees through Guantánamo Bay before their removal to Africa.
The agency said members of the group had criminal histories that included aggravated assault, weapons offenses, robbery, larceny, obstruction, drug offenses and DUI.
The Trump administration has also expanded the use of third-country deportations, which allows authorities to send migrants cooperating nations when returning them to their countries of origin is not possible.
“Third country agreements are helping close one of the loopholes in our immigration system that has far too often been abused with false claims,” ICE said in a statement.
The increase also follows Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s major immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota last winter in response to reports of massive welfare fraud within the Somali population.
Launched in December 2025, the operation resulted in thousands of arrests as federal agents targeted illegal immigrants across the state.
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