Fact check: Is Trump's claim 92% of Minnesota Somalis don't work true?
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump recently appeared on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino's podcast for an interview. Bongino and Trump spoke on a variety of issues, including Minnesota, where the POTUS has deployed several ICE officers.
During the podcast, Trump claimed that 92% of Minnesota Somalis don't work and said they are "just not an asset to our society". But is there any truth to his statement? Let us find out below.
Claim: Trump says 92% of Minnesota Somalis don't work
During the podcast with Bongino, Donald Trump said about Somalis in Minnesota, "These are people that don’t work. These are people who are just not an asset to our society, to put it mildly. And we’ve got to get them out. … Ninety-two percent don’t work."
"They have an unbelievable corrupt system of welfare. You know, many of them drive Mercedes Benzes. They had nothing when they came over," he added.
"They have no money, they have no nothing, and they come over here and... they're able to steal more than $19B," says @POTUS on Somalians in MN.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 2, 2026
"We're right on their ass... These are people that are just not an asset to our society, to put it mildly—and we gotta get them out." pic.twitter.com/wTepfP9i3v
Interestingly, during a December 2025 cabinet meeting, Trump said he does not want Somali immigrants in the US, telling reporters they should "go back to where they came from" and "their country is no good for a reason".
"I don't want them in our country, I'll be honest with you," he said, adding that the US would "go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country".
Fact check: False, data shows 28% of Somalis in Minnesota aren’t working
The claims made by Donald Trump that 92% of Somalis in Minnesota don't work are not true, as the official data shows that only 28% of Somalis in Minnesota aren’t working.
There are nearly 108,000 Somalis in Minnesota, which represents roughly 2% of the state’s population. Census Bureau data from 2024 show that Somalis in Minnesota comprise 72% of the labor force participation.
Hence, around 28% of the Minnesota Somali population is not employed and not looking for work, which is less than one-third of the 92% that Trump cited.
Moreover, the labor force participation rate for Somalis is higher than that of Minnesotans overall. Minnesota’s overall labor force participation rate was 68% in December 2025, making the non-working rate about 32% or four percentage points higher than for Somalis.
The Center for Immigration Studies released a report last December that details the demographics of the Somali community in Minnesota using Census data.
The report shows that, when it comes to employment, Somalis in Minnesota fare relatively well.
"Somali joblessness is not as common as one would predict based on their population’s low education level. Employment is, therefore, a bright spot in the data for Somalis, relatively speaking," the report mentioned.
Furthermore, Resident Scholar Jason Richwine, the author of the report, told PolitiFact that he suspects Trump’s 92% figure is a result of 'a common misunderstanding about welfare and work.'
