Trump administration to end temporary protected status for Somali immigrants
🚨🚨🚨NEW: President Trump ends temporary protected status for thousands of Somalis in US
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 13, 2026
'Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17'https://t.co/Bth3c5xDlF
WASHINGTON, DC: The Trump administration announced on Tuesday, January 13, that it was set to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the Somali community living in America.
Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told via ‘Fox News’ that since conditions in Somalia had improved, those from the nation did not meet the requirements for TPS. The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X to announce the new policy and said that the deadline for Somali TPS was March 17, 2026.
Noem states Trump admin is putting ‘American first’ and 'protected status' was temporary
The Trump administration issued a statement announcing the new decision regarding the Somalian population in the country. Kristi Noem chimed in on the same said that the status was always supposed to be “temporary.”
“Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first,” Noem wrote.
The Somalian nationals were granted temporary protection status in 1991 when the nation was going through a civil war. However, the protection status was extended in September 2024 under the Biden administration.
In light of the Trump administration’s decision to end the temporary protection status for Somalis living in America, the African country’s natives have till March 17, 2026, to leave the country.
The President initially hinted at his intentions to end TPS for the Somali community in November 2025 with a Truth Social post. At the time, he said that the Somali “gangs” were terrorizing people of the state and stealing taxpayer dollars.
“BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!” he wrote.
Minnesota officials allege violation by DHS in lawsuit
The state of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, January 12. The Attorney General of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, told the press that they wanted the administration and DHS to end the “unlawful” and unprecedented” surge of ICE agents in Minnesota.
“We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy, and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law,” Ellison said.
He also alleged that DHS agents had been terrorizing the metropolitan area and even said that Donald Trump did not like Minnesota due to its noncitizen immigrant population.
