In Somalia, ‘they have nothing, they just go around killing each other’, said the American president at a cabinet meeting
The president (USA) criticized this Tuesday (2), and stated that immigrants from the African country should not be welcome in . Trump’s comments come amid a scandal in the State of Minnesota, where, according to the Court, more than 1 billion dollars (around R$5.35 billion) were allocated to non-existent social services, mainly through fraudulent charges by Americans of Somali origin. In Somalia, “they have nothing, they just go around killing each other,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting. “Their country is no good (…) and we don’t want them in our country,” he added.
The president frequently exploits fears that the white majority in the United States could lose political and cultural power. “We are at an inflection point,” he said at the cabinet meeting. “We could go in one direction or another, and we will go in the wrong direction if we continue to accept trash into our country.” Trump added that Americans of Somali origin “don’t contribute anything” and attacked the Democratic congresswoman for Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, who was born in the African country.
“Ilhan Omar is trash. His friends are trash,” he said. The Democrat, of Somali origin, responded to the president on social network X: “Your obsession with me is disturbing. I hope you receive the help you desperately need.” Last week, Trump eliminated deportation protections for Somalis, which had been in place in the United States since 1991, when Somalia descended into a state of anarchy.
Justice is investigating several schemes to embezzle taxpayer money in Minnesota, including groups that falsely claimed they were feeding children during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to an official source and documents obtained by The New York Times, the Trump administration is also launching an intensive immigration enforcement operation, primarily targeting hundreds of undocumented Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Minnesota is a state in the north of the country, historically Democratic and with a tradition of welcoming refugees. It is home to the largest Somali-American community in the United States. In Somalia, 70% of the population lives in “multidimensional poverty”, according to the UN. The African country descended into a civil war in the 1990s, which led to the collapse of the state.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
