The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is ending Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from Somalia, whom President Donald Trump has recently described as “garbage.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the designation, which allows some people from Somalia to stay in the U.S. and work legally on a temporary basis, will not be extended. It is set to expire on March 17.
After that time, about 700 people could be at risk of deportation.
A notice on the Federal Register states that “Sudan today shows improved national governance and security structures” and that “while some extraordinary and temporary conditions may exist in Somalia,” they do not prevent Somali nationals from “returning in safety.”
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DHS shared the news on X with a photo of Trump and an oft-memed line from a Somali pirate in the movie “Captain Phillips”: “I am the captain now.”
The U.S. first granted Temporary Protected Status designation to immigrants from Somalia in 1991. Somalia has been in a civil war for over three decades, which, combined with natural disasters, has led many to flee the country.
In the past few months, the Trump administration has ended Temporary Protected Status for people from countries including Ethiopia, Venezuela and Myanmar, although there are efforts to challenge the moves in court.
The move to end the designation for Somalia comes after Trump has targeted Somalis in particular, making racist comments and calling Somalia and other nations “shithole countries.”
Trump had posted on Truth Social in November 2025 that he was terminating TPS for Somalis in Minnesota specifically.
“I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota,” Trump wrote. “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Most recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement turned to Minneapolis’ Somali community as a target in its massive, state-by-state immigration crackdown. Officials have said that the operation is in response to an alleged fraud scheme involving some members of Minnesota’s Somali community.
The surge of agents in Minneapolis, ICE says, is the “largest immigration operation ever” with over 2,000 officers deployed. Last Wednesday, an ICE officer shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good in what administration officials say was self-defense but advocates say was an unjustified use of force, sparking widespread protests across the country over the shooting and ICE’s conduct.
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