Minnesota finds itself in a harsh spotlight as President Donald Trump revs up his attacks on Gov. Tim Walz, an old political foe, while simultaneously expanding his demonization of Somali Minnesotans.
After unleashing torrents of foul language against Walz last weekend, and then this week referring to Somali Americans as “garbage,” Trump reportedly dispatched additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Minnesota, where he suggests they will patrol a specific class of people, Somali Americans. Strict racial profiling will now extend to our neighbors.
To read some online discourse, including that spewed by Trump in a feverish late-night troll session of more than 160 posts, Minnesota is a den of fraud perpetrated solely by immigrant hordes. This rhetoric is divisive, racist and wrong.
Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest Somali community. These are our colleagues, friends, law enforcement officers, public servants, neighbors and taxpayers. That Trump would demonize an entire diaspora — the vast majority of whom live here as legal citizens or permanent residents — is dangerous.
As Trump amped up his assault of Somalis in the wake of the slaying and critical wounding of two National Guard members by an Afghan immigrant in Washington, the president was asked what Somalis had to do with the deadly encounter.