US President Donald Trump’s administration is ending temporary protected status (TPS) for thousands of Somalis in the United States, Fox News reported on Tuesday, requiring them to leave by 17 March.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” the report cited Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as saying. Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security could not be immediately reached to confirm the report.
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Trump in November said he was immediately terminating temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota, accelerating the end of a programme that began in 1991 under former Republican President George HW Bush.
Trump has previously called Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” under Democratic Governor Tim Walz, an apparent response to unverified media reports, shared by several Republican lawmakers, that the Al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia had benefited from fraud committed in Minnesota.
In the last few days, tens of thousands of people have marched through Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration agent.
There are 2 471 Somali nationals in the United States under TPS, with another 1 383 with pending TPS applications, Fox News reported, citing US Citizenship and Immigration Services sources. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, 2025 data showed 705 Somali-born individuals nationwide have TPS status.
