The decision is expected to affect around 1,100 people, who are likely to face legal challenges.
Published January 13, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will end temporary deportation protections and work permits for some Somalis in the United States, officials announced.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Tuesday that the Trump administration will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis living in the United States, which protects immigrants from deportation to countries deemed unsafe to return to and provides temporary work authorization.
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“Somalia’s national situation has improved to the point that it no longer meets the requirements of the Temporary Protected Status Act,” Noem said in a statement. “Furthermore, allowing Somali nationals to temporarily reside in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We put Americans first.”
The decision is expected to affect around 1,100 people, who are likely to face legal challenges.
The Somali community has been a frequent target of the Trump administration. The US president has called Somalis “trash” and painted them like criminals.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has slammed Somalis in the United States, accusing them of massive public benefits fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, the nation’s largest with about 80,000 members.
Continuing his attacks on the Somali community, President Trump has threatened to strip naturalized Somalis and foreign-born people of their U.S. citizenship if convicted of fraud.
President Trump said on Tuesday that he would “revoke the citizenship of naturalized immigrants from Somalia and elsewhere who are convicted of defrauding the public.”
The administration also cut off Minnesota’s access to federal child care subsidies and rushed immigration enforcement agents to the state, which has a significant Somali population, sparking anger and condemnation from local and state officials over aggressive immigration raids.
Heavily armed agents have broken car windows and detained people, frequently using force against protesters and demanding proof of citizenship from residents, raising concerns from civil rights groups.
Tensions escalated last week when federal immigration agents shot and killed Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three who was working as a legal monitor for federal immigration operations in Minneapolis.
