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U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is ending temporary protected status for thousands of Somalis in the United States, press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on X on Tuesday, requiring them to leave by March 17.

“Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17,” Leavitt wrote on X, quoting a Fox News article that first broke the story.

🚨🚨🚨NEW: President Trump ends temporary protected status for thousands of Somalis in US
‘Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17’https://t.co/Bth3c5xDlF

—PressSec

The move follows a series of negative comments in recent months by Trump about Somalis in the U.S. — including U.S. citizens of Somali origin. He has particularly singled out Somalis living in Minnesota.

Trump said in November that he was immediately terminating temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in the state, which is home to a large Somali American community.

At the time, he called Minnesota a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, an apparent response to unverified media reports, shared by several Republican lawmakers, that the Al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia has benefited from fraud committed in Minnesota.

On Tuesday, Fox News reported that the scheme would end for Somalis countrywide.

In response to an email from Reuters, the Department of Homeland Security sent a statement from its chief, Kristi Noem.

“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” she said.

Minnesota has become a major flashpoint in the administration’s efforts to deport millions of immigrants.

In the last few days, tens of thousands of people have marched through Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by an federal immigration agent.

There are 2,471 Somalis nationals in the United States under TPS, with another 1,383 with pending TPS applications, Fox News reported, citing U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services sources. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, 2025 data showed 705 Somali-born individuals nationwide have TPS status.

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