The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali immigrants. This marks another step in the president’s broad effort to remove certain immigrant groups from the United States.
The decision impacts hundreds of Somali nationals living under TPS protections, a small segment of the nearly 1.3 million immigrants with similar status across the country. Many of those affected reside in Minneapolis, where Somali communities have been central to protests following the death of a U.S. citizen at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the current protections, last extended by former President Joe Biden, will expire on March 17. Somalis must depart the United States by that date unless they qualify for another immigration pathway.
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“Temporary means temporary,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, adding that the move prioritizes “Americans first.” Noem argued that conditions in Somalia “have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status.”
According to a Congressional Research Service report released last spring, the Somali TPS population numbers 705, a fraction of the total TPS recipients. Over his second term, Trump has ended protections for multiple countries, including Venezuela and Haiti.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized the policy, calling it a “bigoted attack” that could send vulnerable Somalis back to a dangerous environment.
“This decision does not reflect changed conditions in Somalia,” CAIR said in a joint statement with its Minnesota chapter. “By dismantling protections for one of the most vulnerable Black and Muslim communities, this decision exposes an agenda rooted in exclusion, not public safety.”
Somalia, located in the Horn of Africa, is one of the poorest nations globally and has suffered decades of conflict compounded by natural disasters, including severe droughts. The country remains partially under the control of al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab, which has carried out deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu.
TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to protect foreign nationals living in the U.S. who cannot safely return to their home countries due to war, natural disaster, or other crises. Eligible individuals can work legally and are shielded from deportation while TPS is in effect, but the status does not provide a path to permanent residency or citizenship. The designation is typically granted in 18-month increments, though extensions often occur for decades in countries with ongoing instability.
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Somalia first received TPS under President George H.W. Bush in 1991 amid a civil war. Successive extensions have continued due to persistent insecurity, AP reported. The 2025 congressional report noted that Somali TPS had been renewed more than two dozen times because of ongoing armed conflict and threats to returnees’ safety.
Trump has repeatedly targeted Somali immigrants with inflammatory rhetoric, claiming that Minneapolis residents defraud federal programs and vowing to “revoke the citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia, or anywhere else who was convicted of defrauding our citizens.” In December, he described Somalis in the U.S. as people who “come from hell” and “contribute nothing,” without differentiating between citizens and non-citizens.
While the Biden administration expanded TPS coverage, the Trump administration has moved to rescind protections for multiple nationalities. Previous attempts to end TPS designations, including for Venezuelans and Haitians, have faced legal challenges, though emergency Supreme Court rulings have allowed revocations to continue as cases move through the courts.
It remains uncertain how quickly Somali TPS recipients could be deported once protections expire. Many of these individuals could seek asylum or other immigration pathways, though the Trump administration has made such options increasingly difficult for Somalis and other affected groups.
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