'We keep taking in garbage': Trump unleashes on Somali immigrants

At his final televised cabinet meeting of the year, which lasted well over two hours on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump unleashed his anger towards Somali immigrants, as well as the only Somali-American member of Congress, for what he says is a takeover of the state of Minnesota.

"They come from hell, and they complain and do nothing but bitch. We don't want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it," he told reporters. 

"I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you, okay? Somebody said, 'Oh, that’s not politically correct.' I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country. I can say that about other countries, too," the president added. 

The comments were in response to a question about whether Trump thinks Minnesota governor and former Democratic vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, should resign over a Covid-era payment programme that was, according to the Department of Justice, massively defrauded by a large number of Somalis. 

Immediately following the cabinet meeting, Somali-American Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman, flanked by city officials, including law enforcement and the mayor, addressed reporters.

“Our president is racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, and we are going to fight that,” he said. “Our community has lived through fear in the past… We’re going to stay informed, we’re going to stay safe, and we’re going to support each other."

The New York Times reported that "scores of individuals made small fortunes" by starting companies that billed state agencies "for millions of dollars worth of social services that were never provided". 

Nearly 80 people have now been charged or convicted, the Justice Department said, as it continues to probe what it described as three separate plots in which $1bn was stolen in total. 

"I will note, it's not just Somalis. Minnesota is a generous state. Minnesota is a prosperous state, a well-run state," Walz told NBC News on Sunday.

"We're AAA-bond rated. But that attracts criminals. Those people are going to jail. We're doing everything we can. But to demonise an entire community on the actions of a few, it's lazy," he added.

'They just run around killing each other'

Minnesota hosts the largest Somali community in the US, and it is also home to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a hijab-wearing Black Muslim immigrant who first won her seat in 2018, during a liberal voting wave midway through the first Trump administration. 

The state was also recently in the national spotlight for the hopes that Democratic Socialists had pinned on the so-called "Mamdani of Minnesota", Omar Fateh, a Somali-American state senator who was running for mayor of Minneapolis. He was defeated last month. 

Trump administration plans to reinterview refugees admitted under Biden: Report

Read More »

"Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota," Trump wrote on his TruthSocial last week.

"Tim Walz does nothing either through fear, incompetence, or both."

The president has a long history of going after states led by Democrats, and which also host large groups of immigrants. 

“Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare [dependence] is like 88 percent. They contribute nothing," the president said at his cabinet meeting.

"We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country," he added. 

Somalia remains on Trump's travel ban, as it had been during his first administration. While the Supreme Court eventually narrowed down the list of countries and allowed some exceptions, Somalia never actually came off the list during the Biden administration. 

Trump also recently ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in the US who largely fled persecution and crippling poverty.

"Somalia - which is barely a country - they have no, they have no... anything. They just run around killing each other. There's no structure," Trump told reporters. 

Target: Venezuela 

Ahead of that cabinet meeting, all eyes were on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Last week a Washington Post report revealed that a deadly second US strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat off the coast was Venezuela on 2 September was at the behest of Hegseth who ordered the commander in charge to "kill everybody".

Two out of 11 people had initially survived, clinging to the sides of the vessel as it was engulfed in flames. 

The White House later said it was, in fact, a senior US Navy admiral, Frank Bradley, who authorised that second strike.

On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson defended the action and said it was well within both US and international laws governing war to carry out the second strike. 

Next US defence secretary Pete Hegseth called for new Jewish temple at Al-Aqsa

Read More »

"I did not personally see survivors," Hegseth told reporters at Tuesday's cabinet meeting.

"That thing was on fire, and it exploded," he added. "You can't see anything. This is called the fog of war."

He berated the press in the room for not understanding how chaotic war can become from their "air-conditioned offices". 

The secretary of war said Bradley has his full backing. "That commander... had the complete authority," he said. 

Critics have voiced concern about ethical and legal violations, including the two Republican chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, who are now demanding that they review audio and video of the attack. 

The Trump administration has designated a number of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations, indicating that the label now allows them to kill anyone involved in drug operations without any form of due process. 

Since September, more than 80 people have been killed on boats in the Caribbean and off the Venezuelan shore.

No evidence has been presented to show they were trafficking drugs.

The strikes, however, are also intended to ratchet up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro - someone Trump has spoken to directly, but has also threatened to topple by force. 

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves. 

Afghan suspect charged in shooting

As the cabinet meeting took place, just a few blocks away at the DC Superior Courthouse, prosecutors filed their formal charges against Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who is suspected of having shot two National Guard members on patrol in Washington, DC, one week ago. 

One of those soldiers died after being in critical condition. 

'Scapegoating': Thousands of Afghans thrust into uncertainty after DC shooting

Read More »

The charges against Lakanwal include first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill while armed, and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

"There are certainly many more charges to come," Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for Washington, DC, said. 

Lakanwal, who appeared in court via video from a hospital bed, pleaded not guilty. 

He was shot by a third National Guard member at the site of the attack. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi previously indicated that she may seek the death penalty if Lakanwal is convicted. 

Lakanwal was revealed to have been part of the CIA's 'Zero Unit' during the US's 20-year-long war in Afghanistan, and specifically part of an elite Afghan counterterrorism team called Unit 03 - the Kandahar Strike Force.  

But between landing in the US in 2021 via the US-orchestrated evacuation programme called Operation Allies Welcome, and having his asylum application approved in April of this year, he reportedly struggled to adapt to life in the US.

Within hours of the shooting, Trump said in a televised address from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, that immigrants will no longer be welcome "if they can't love our country". 

“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country," he said. 

The Trump administration was already cracking down on immigration before Wednesday's shooting, and Afghans have been a target of its efforts. 

Now, almost all pathways for Afghans to obtain legal status in the US have been suspended.