Somali Minnesotans—doctors, engineers, and U.S. citizens—face ICE raids and kidnappings after Trump’s "garbage" remark and calls to revoke their status, sparking fear despite the state’s welcoming policies. Council members like Jamal Osman and Aurene Chowdhury condemn "othering" rhetoric, while Aisha Gomez urges neighbors to resist ICE with noise and documentation. Scott Dibble ties Trump’s language to historical dehumanization, and Bobby Jo Chin frames solidarity as a moral duty. Omar Fateh compares attacks to Wallace-era segregation, dismissing fraud claims as baseless tools for division. The crisis reveals how political scapegoating erodes trust and safety in immigrant communities. [Automatically generated summary]
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Several Minnesota State and Minneapolis lawmakers spoke about potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency or ICE operations that are targeting Somali residents in the area.
Lawmakers also condemn President Trump's remarks about Somali immigrants and Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar.
And to my beloved Somali American community who now feel the breadth and the weight of this federal government dawning upon us with ICE agents now traveling in different parts of our city, I speak to you to say, number one, know your rights.
unidentified
Be calm, collective.
This moment will pass.
And not only will it pass, but we will come out of this moment stronger, more resilient.
And for the first time, we will be sharing our culture, our incredible hospitality, our hard work, and the stories that we have kept so long inside of Minnesota to the greater part of this nation.
And not only our food and sambusas and all the other things that we have will become mainline, but it will show the resiliency of our state and our community.
unidentified
In this moment, it is understandable to be frustrated and in fear, but rest assured we are here to let you know that we will prevail.
To President Trump and the base that is attacking our community, we understand that you are here to divide us, to create fear amongst us, and to selectively target the blackest immigrant and Muslim community in this great state.
Majority of us are U.S. citizens, even a majority of even that born in the United States.
unidentified
What we see today that's happening in Minneapolis is the authoritarian nature of this government and acting as a third world nation by targeting lawful U.S. citizens.
We should be ashamed of that.
And we remind President Trump and the Republican leadership of this state and across the country, Somali Americans are not monolithic to any community.
We vote for the Democratic Party, we vote for the Republican Party, and for the first time we saw a shift not only in our community but other communities who voted actually for President Trump.
We want people to understand that our community is sophisticated, capable, and very smart.
unidentified
In fact, in this moment, we are calling upon our neighbours, those who we have built great relationship with, to speak up, to stand up, and to share to the rest of the country what it means to be a neighbor to a Somali American, to be taught by a Somali American, to be driven by a Somali American, and to live and see a world where Somali Americans are not just an asset,
but an important asset to the future of this state and this country.
I personally sit in this moment as President Trump continues to target us, and I see a moment of inspiration even in that vile hate toward our community.
He is inspiring a generation of young people today who are on social media watching this and recognizing that this seat that he's sitting in as the President of the United States, he is inspiring a young Somali woman, a young Somali boy to become a president of the United States in the near future.
We are not a community that retreats.
We are a community that leans in.
We are a community that's civically engaged.
We are a community that cares about our neighbours.
And we are a community that believes in everything great about this nation.
Not only do we serve in the army and police departments, but we are part and parcel of everything that happens in the success of this great state and our country.
This is a moment for all of us.
And in this moment, we ask for everyone to show their humanity and to show love in the face of hate.
And I know this moment will pass, but history will remind us of what we did in this moment, how we stood next to each other and how we reminded each other of the best ideals.
On a suburbian cul-de-sac, somewhere in the outskirts of this city, resides five children who each could claim that their ancestors came from other parts of the world.
unidentified
But every single morning in this country, those five children ride on a school bus looking at each other as Americans, as friends, as neighbours.
That is the America that we live in.
That is the America we envision, and that is the America of today and tomorrow.
Thank you.
Thank you, Brother Jelani.
Thank you, everybody, for being here.
A couple of weeks ago, right-wing podcasters said Donald Trump should revoke temporary status for Somalis.
700 people across the country who are seeking refuge from famine and violence.
So Trump did.
And Republicans applauded or said nothing.
Then Trump's agencies said they would be investigating false accusations connecting Somali citizens and terrorists.
Again, Republicans cheered.
Then we heard ICE agents would be coming to Minneapolis where almost every Somali person living here is a citizen, many of us second or third generation.
And again, Republicans either thanked him or said nothing.
Yesterday, Donald Trump exposed what he really wants, what he really thinks, that Somalis are garbage.
And that does not, and that he does not want us here.
That's dehumanizing and hateful language and a direct threat to denaturalize and deport American citizens, citizens like myself.
And where are the Republicans now?
This morning, I emailed Republican leaders in the legislature and asked that they join us here and that they speak out publicly or contact me directly and condemn what Donald Trump said about their fellow Minnesotans, their fellow citizens.
So far, no response.
My offer still stands.
The actions taking place against Somalis in Minnesota include ICE, Border Patrol, the DEA, the DOJ, the Treasury Department, Homeland Security, the ATF, and the FBI.
They are throwing the full weight of the federal government against a tiny population of people, maybe 80,000 in Minnesota and a couple hundred thousand across the nation.
We are a fraction of percent.
Why us?
Is that because we're tiny and most Americans don't know a Somali person and he thinks he can get away with it?
He can start with us, but it will not end with us.
This is a defining moment in the history of the United States.
We are a nation of immigrants and of rights, but only if we are brave enough to defend it.
What we do now, collectively and individually, determines what kind of country we are.
I'm asking every Minnesotan and every American to stand with us now and prove to the world, as we have many times before, that as a nation we are stronger than any authoritarian dictator.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
My name is Jamal Osman.
I am the council member for Ward 6, where we are, where large East African communities reside and call it home for the last 20, 30 years.
Thousands of residents, many of them U.S. citizens, are living in fear of what the President has said and the threat that's coming from the federal government.
The fear is not abstract.
It is felt in homes, in schools, in mosques, in the communities.
Even my own daughters, who are 100% American, are asking, why us?
What makes Minneapolis and Minnesota wonderful is Somali community, and we're here to stay.
unidentified
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Aurene Chowdhury.
I'm the council member to the 12th ward, and I am the chair of intergovernmental relations.
I'm also the eldest daughter of working-class Bangladeshi immigrants.
And my family, when they came to the cold state of Minnesota for the first time without their cultural foods, without the mosque that they grew up and felt welcome in, they found welcoming from our Somali community.
Our Somali community opened doors to stores that had spices, that allowed us to make the food that brought comfort, had established mosques where we could practice our faith in community with all of our neighbors, and then also grow our culture and share our culture here in the state of Minnesota.
And today, our Somali community continues to share all they have to give with descendants of German ancestry, Norwegian ancestry, French-Canadian ancestry, you name it.
And that's what's truly Minnesotan.
That's what Minneapolis truly is about, is this wonderful, amazing exchange of cultures and customs that I say makes our city the envy of all cities in the state of Minnesota.
The fact that we have cultural corridors, events, markets, all this to give, that creates a very, very vibrant and unique mosaic in our state.
And I stand before you today as our Somali Latino immigrant neighbors have been in the last few days, last few months, stalked, harassed, kidnapped with no due process,
have had strange men with masks on their face enter their buildings without permission, wait outside of their schools, all in a way to break apart our communities and otherize us and take away the vibrancy that makes Minnesota and Minneapolis so strong and so unique, and also creates the economic engine of this state.
I want to say this is a moment for us all to use our voice to ensure that we do not pit each other against one another, to stand up for our Somali community, to share the amazing experiences that we have shared with one another as Minnesotans, and to also understand an attack on the Somali community is an attack on the Latino community, the Afghan community.
Any person who wants to have liberty and freedom in our state and in our country.
And what the President is seeking to do is weakening our nation and making a mockery of it in the world.
To our communities, I want to encourage you to stay vigilant, stay in communication with one another, know your rights, share what rights are to your neighbors,
make copies and carry any valid immigration documentation and carry proof of citizenship if you have it, because we know that under this Trump regime, authoritarian regime and Supreme Court, they are targeting people based off of the language that they speak and the color of their skin.
They are racial profiling.
In the city of Minneapolis, we have a great resource, the Office of Immigrant Rights and Refugee Affairs.
I encourage you to connect with them, to know all of your rights, and then also seek different resources, whether it's legal resources, other community networks.
We have been working diligently to build that up as the city of Minneapolis.
In Minneapolis, I want to remind everyone we do have a separation ordinance in place that requires that no city employee, especially our police department, fire department, does not do the work of ICE and does not do immigration enforcement.
And we are currently in the process to strengthen this, to ensure that none of our city resources are used for the purposes of immigration enforcement, that our employees have ongoing training so they are aware that we are not going to be doing the work of ICE, and that there is strong reporting measures in place to understand if there are requests from the federal government or if actions do take place.
The last thing that I will say is I'm not afraid and I don't think you should be afraid either because that's the purpose here.
To create political theater, to strike fear in our communities, to divide us, to put us in different silos.
But together, across communities of immigrants, whether you're a seventh-generation Minnesotan with German heritage or a first generation Minnesotan from Bangladesh or our vibrant Somali community, together we are much stronger.
And they can try to tear apart our families, they can try to break our communities, but they're not breaking our spirit.
They are trying to bury us, but they're forgetting that we are seeds and we will continue to move forward.
Next up, I will welcome Representative Aisha Gomez.
Thank you.
My name is Aisha Gomez.
I serve as the state representative for District 62A, which is South Minneapolis.
So, you know, I represent and Representative Hamoud and Senator Fateh represent a part of town that is being targeted by Trump's fascist troops.
You know, what we see is aggressive and divisive tactics being used on our streets.
And so what's happening right now is that our neighbors from the Somali community are being scapegoated.
And this is something that happens throughout history and that unfortunately we've seen repeatedly in our country.
It's a distraction tactic.
It's designed to elicit fear and to sow division.
And Southside's not standing for it.
Not in our community, not on our streets, not in our city, not in our state.
And so you heard a couple speakers talk about how important it is to know your rights in these moments.
And it's important regardless of your immigration status to know your rights in these moments.
Senator Muhammad talked about contacting Republican leadership today.
Well, I'm old enough to remember when Republicans said that they cared about the Constitution.
And so whether they have conveniently forgotten about that in this moment or not, that document still exists.
And that document guarantees rights to people in this country, regardless of their immigration status.
Because what's true is that if one person in our society doesn't have a civil right, it's not a civil right.
If one person in our society is denied the right to due process, none of us have the right guaranteed under our Constitution to answer our accusers in a court of law.
And so we have rights in our homes.
We have rights as we walk down the streets.
The first thing is that you don't have to answer your door to these people.
You don't have to open your door.
Your home is your home.
Nobody can enter your home without a signed judicial warrant.
You should know that show up and they will try to gain entry to your home through deception, and they're allowed to do that.
You do not have to answer anyone's questions.
You do not have to submit to questioning without an attorney present.
If you are detained by federal agents, say nothing, sign nothing, request an attorney.
If you're in public, ask if you're free to leave.
If they say yes, then leave.
Don't share any private information with a federal agent if you're detained.
Don't share your address.
Don't share anybody's name that you're associated with.
Ask if you're free to leave.
If you are not, request an attorney and say nothing further and do not sign any papers.
Contact your consulate as soon as you are able if you're detained by federal agents.
And then I want to talk just for a moment to people like me who are not impacted by this threat in the same way as our beloved Somali neighbors are.
Because we have an important role to play in this moment.
I said and I believe firmly that ICE is not welcome on the streets of Minneapolis.
They are certainly not welcome in the south side of Minneapolis where they seem to be trying to take up residence right now.
And so as somebody who's not directly impacted, I believe that it's my responsibility to show up and to communicate to them that they're not welcome here.
And I'm willing to do that in any way necessary.
And mostly just asking questions, making noise, letting my neighbors know.
I have my whistle around my neck.
A lot of people in the neighborhoods have these.
If you hear a whistle in your community, go and check out what's happening.
If you don't have a whistle, maybe you could get one.
It's a way to communicate to people that there is an issue of concern happening in the streets.
Don't be afraid to honk your horns if you see something happening.
Don't be afraid to record.
You have the right to record these activities.
It's up to us in these moments.
You know, because what we know, you know, you just read the news.
Activities of this administration are being struck down in courts left, right, and center.
They have no hesitation about engaging in illegal activities, and they'll just wait and fight it out in court.
So there's lawlessness among us in that way.
And so we know that these tactics are sometimes, we need to come together and disrupt them.
And so yeah, I just would say, you know, we have to stay vigilant.
We have to stand together, be there for your neighbors, learn what your rights are, share them around, have each other's phone numbers, and know that we have to protect this time.
And that history judges people about how they show up in these moments.
In these moments of authoritarianism being on the march, in these moments of fascism, in these moments where people in our community, beloved members of our community, are being scapegoated for a very specific reason, so that none of us pay attention to the fact that they want to cut tens of millions of people off health care so that the rich can have a tax cut, that they want to cut people off of food, so the rich can have a tax cut.
They don't want you to pay attention to the fact that the billionaires are running our country.
They want us to attack our neighbors.
We're not doing that.
Thank you.
My name is Doran Clark, D-O-R-O-N Clark.
I'm proud to be the senator of the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, and I'm proud to stand with my Somali neighbours, my Minnesotan neighbors, and say no, and to condemn these actions.
The Somali community is part of what makes Minneapolis great, which makes Minnesota great, and which makes me proud to be the state senator for this district.
Our neighbours, our Minnesotan friends, came here because they recognized the promise that is America, the promise that is Minnesota.
And I stand with them and I condemn these attacks and I'm so proud and inspired by all of my neighbors who have stood up and said, not on my watch.
We stand with our neighbors.
We stand with new Americans.
We stand with our Somali friends and neighbours and say, you are part of Minnesota.
You are Minnesotan.
You are an American.
And I'm proud to be here in Cedar Riverside.
I'm proud to be here in Ward 6.
And I'm proud to say that, well, this community is Minnesota.
This community is America.
And I'm so glad you're here.
Thank you.
Also very proud to be here.
My name is Scott Dibble, D-I-B-B-L-E.
There's no R in my name anywhere.
So good afternoon, and thank everyone for being here.
We are here today speaking with one voice as council members, as legislators from the Senate and the House as DFLers, to call upon our Republican colleagues to join us in repudiating the hateful and racist comments made by their party standard-bearer, the president of our country, Donald Trump,
when he referred to Somali Minnesotans and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar as garbage.
I want to be absolutely clear.
These comments do not exist in a vacuum.
They are not simply political rhetoric.
They are dehumanizing attacks aimed at an entire community of Minnesotans, our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members, our constituents, and our friends.
And Minnesota, we know all too well the consequences of dehumanizing rhetoric because we have lived that.
We are still grieving the assassination of Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and the attempted assassination of our colleague, Senator John Hoffman, his wife, Yvette, and their daughter Hope.
Acts carried out by an individual radicalized by exactly this kind of language.
When leaders in power demonize and dehumanize, it is not metaphorical.
It sets the stage, it gives permission, it lights a fuse, and it has to stop.
I want to speak personally for just a moment.
I'm an out-LGBTQ legislator, and my community has been the target of violence, real physical violence, because of the exact same playbook of dehumanization.
We have seen far-right elected officials call LGBTQ people threats, groomers, predators, abominations.
We have seen performers demonized.
We have seen transgender youth and their families singled out and shamed.
We've seen them fundraised off of our existence.
And we've seen what happens after the words.
Armed protesters outside of our gatherings, threats against our clinics, violence at pride events, and of course the Pulse Nightclub and the Colorado Springs massacres.
Words have consequences.
Dehumanization is a runway to violence.
Decades of research make this plain.
It erodes the moral inhibitions that usually prevent people from harming one another.
It increases aggression, makes violence not only seem permissible, but justified.
It has played a central role in history's worst atrocities, from the Tulsa massacre to the Holocaust to the Rwandan genocide.
It harms mental health, causing fear, isolation, shame, and trauma.
And it reinforces social hierarchies that deny people their rights, their dignity, and even their safety.
So when the President of the United States calls Somali Minnesotans garbage, he is not simply trying to score political points.
He is telling his followers explicitly and implicitly that these families, these workers, these students, these elders are less than human.
And when leaders stay silent in the face of that message, they are sending a message of their own.
Mahatma Gandhi said, silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.
And Dr. King said the ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but silence of that by the good people.
And this is one of those moments.
Today, we call upon our Republican colleagues to stand up publicly and reject these racist Political theater, because our state, Minnesota, and Somali people, our Minnesota depends on it.
Somali Minnesotans, you deserve to know that your elected officials see you as full human beings, that we will protect your dignity, that we will not tolerate language that places you at a greater risk of violence.
Every elected official, every one of us, has a moral obligation to stop the slide toward dehumanization wherever it appears.
We cannot claim to value safety or stability or the rule of law or even Minnesota's future if we are unwilling to confront the rhetoric that undermines all of those things.
Robert F. Kennedy reminded us: each time a person stands up for an ideal or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope.
Well, let's start that ripple today.
Let us show Minnesotans, especially those who are targeted or hurting or discouraged, that we are capable of moral courage.
And to our Somali neighbors, and I should mention that I'm proud to represent Elliott Park along with Councilmember Ottman, where many Somali friends live.
To our Somali neighbors, we see you, we value you, you belong here, and we will stand up for you.
Thank you.
I introduce our Senate President, Bobby Jo Chin.
Let me first say that I want to make it very clear that I stand with the Somali community because they are our community.
And you know, I was thinking because I heard so many great speeches already and really people laying out the reality of how important the Somali community is to Minnesota, but also how important the Somali community is across our wonderful nation.
I thought about it, and here's the thing that I will say: My presence here today is because I represent the African-American community, but also being the president of the Senate.
We understand political violence, we understand violence against our communities, and so my presence here today is a demonstration and an act of love.
Love is an action word.
It's not one of those things that you say and you put it on the shelf, but you demonstrate love, and I'm standing here as do others who are in the street and other places.
They are demonstrating love.
I believe that love drives out hate, but you've got to be very intentional about it because if you let hate reign supreme, then our young people and other people will believe and think that the sort of behavior and the words that we hear coming from Washington, D.C. are appropriate.
I believe that light drives out darkness.
And some people may say, Where do you get those things from?
Well, you know, there's this little thing that I read that's called the Bible.
And the reason why I'm mentioning that is because some people believe that it's okay to sell Bibles, but not read Bibles.
And you know exactly who I'm talking about.
You can see from time to time that the person has had a Bible in their hand and the Bible's been upside down, and that's how you can always tell that they're not reading it because it's upside down.
But you also know that they're not reading it is because if one's actions only speaks hatred against another person or another community, then that is not an act of love.
And so I want not just the people who are standing behind me, but those that we've called out, the GOP, people in the African-American community, people all over allies.
It is important for us to speak up and be bold about it.
Martin Luther King, I thank Senator Dibble for raising Martin Luther King because one thing that he said is a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
But my favorite passage is when he says the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at the time of convenience and comfort, but it is where he stands at the time of challenge and controversy.
So we're going to be measured by this moment and whether we step into this moment and we do the things that we need to, because when one of us hurt, all of us hurt.
When one of us is being attacked, we're all being attacked.
So I want us to stand up and I want us to speak out.
And I want us to be bold.
And I want us to be clear that we all are affected when just one of us are affected.
We are linked together.
We are joined together by our human spirit.
And being connected by our human spirit means that if you move, I move.
If someone's attacking you, they are attacking me.
So I am here, and I want you to know that I'm going to do everything within my power to make sure that we protect our Somali community, our Latino community, any community, every community, because we are all members of the human race.
And so I want to just thank my colleagues for standing.
And now we are looking forward to our GOP members joining us.
Thank you so much. Good afternoon.
My name is Jamie Long.
I am the House Democratic floor leader and a Minneapolis representative.
I am proud to represent Somali Americans.
I am proud that Somali Americans go to school with my kids.
I am proud to have colleagues who are Somali Americans in the state house and the state Senate.
I am proud to be represented in Congress by the first Somali American to ever go to that hallowed chamber.
The only garbage that we are seeing in our community today are demonization and othering of our neighbors.
The only people who should be leaving our community are the 100 federal law enforcement folks who were flown in for a political stunt and who are in our community now arresting citizens and arresting people who are lawfully here.
We are seeing these attacks on our state and our community, and so far I have not seen one state Republican elected official say anything back.
In fact, I have seen folks like Lisa Damoth put out a tweet encouraging the president.
I guess because she wants his endorsement when she's running for governor.
We are here with our Somali neighbors because Minnesota is a welcoming place, because Somali Americans came here fleeing political violence.
And now they are facing that here in our state.
We welcomed the Somali community to Minnesota with open arms before, and we will hold out those arms to embrace the Somali community now because they are not going anywhere and they are our neighbors.
Good afternoon.
My name is Mahamoud Nur.
I'm a state representative for this district, M-O-H-A-M-U-D-N-O-O-R.
I know that our community is under attack right now.
People are fearful.
But let me tell you this.
For some of you who have arrived to the state of Minnesota, the airport, the people who walk in while you're walking out of the airplane are East Africans, Somalis, who are getting that flight ready to go back.
The right that you took from the airport to the place that you are going probably had a Somali person bring you here.
To the different places that you may go, to the hospitals that you may visit, you will see the doctors, the nurses.
To the schools that you go, you will see the teachers.
You see, this is not a unique story to anybody.
We are through and through Americans like any other community.
This place that we're in right now in Cedar Riverside has been called different names.
This is not the first time that this community has been demonized.
It has been called the no-go zone, the shithole, different names.
This is not who we are.
This is not who we are as Americans.
Forget about being Minnesotans.
We can't be looking people down when we feel that it's politically the right thing to do.
We can justify calling people garbage without getting a response from other people who are sitting around you.
It's not justified to put communities in harm's way.
As you've heard previously, our Speaker of the House, Melissa Hotman, and her husband were assassinated.
And my friend, George Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and their daughter, Hope, are really going through the healing process after the assassination attempt.
As you've heard from my colleagues, we can't justify words that will create harm.
We can't allow our colleagues on the other side to be sitting on the sideline when they know that this is going to create a harm to the community that lives right here.
My four children live in this neighborhood.
Our community is united.
Our neighbors are standing with us.
I want to let you know that we are all greater than fear.
Thank you so much.
With that, we'll take, thank you to our leaders for being here.
We'll take a few questions.
Division, Somali American officials out there.
What sort of impact does language like being called garbage by the President of the United States?
I'm a state senator representing Southside Minneapolis District 62.
It's OMAR, F-A-T-E-H.
The term garbage is not only hurtful and shameful, but we know that, as our other colleagues mentioned, that language matters, and language leads to action.
And that type of othering, that type of attack, leads to political violence.
We've seen our colleagues get attacked and murdered.
And I appreciate what our allies and our elected officials, Jayline Hussain and Senator Champion, mentioned about the power and organizing around the Somali community.
And this is happening because the Somali community has gained power.
We are Uber drivers, we're bus drivers, doctors, lawyers, elected officials.
And having community members stand up with us, especially those from the black community that paved the way from us, it's their sacrifice and them sacrificing their lives back in the 60s and through the civil rights movement that allowed us to be where we're at today.
You know, my father came here as an immigrant in 1963.
I'm the son of immigrants from Somalia.
And the year he came to America was the same year of that famous speech from George Wallace saying, segregation now, segregation forever.
And what we're seeing right now is a repeat of that history coming back full circle.
And as elected officials, as allies, as community members, as human beings, we're standing up against that.
unidentified
Have there been any ICE operated for detainment today for Somali neighborhoods that you know?
So there's been a few abductions, I'll put it that way.
And we've seen U.S. citizens.
It's not only undocumented individuals.
We have seen that.
documentation of people who are here legally who are being detained.
And we've also seen an abduction that happened even in the parking lot across from here.
That means they're not looking for specific individuals.
They're targeting an entire community.
Anybody who looks like me, whether you're Somali or Romo, West African, or anyone who looks like me, is now on the target list, unfortunately.
And that's not how we do law enforcement.
That is terrorizing communities.
That is creating a narrative that does not exist.
If those two individuals who were detained that didn't show up in Fox 9 News, who showed up with their cameras at that point, I don't know whether they will have been picked up to Wilma or other places to be detained for them just to verify who they are.
That's where we are today.
If they're looking for specific individuals, if it's a targeted process, we will have seen a different response.
But this is not a targeted response.
This is a collective punishment.
And just to be clear, there were two today that happened.
One of them was across the street from this facility.
I cannot speak of what has happened today, but that is what happened yesterday.
But there's also a lot of folks who have seen them, followed them to make sure that they are giving individuals their rights, to make sure that they're protected.
There are folks who have stood up to make sure that telling people you don't have to answer any questions and helping them understand the impact of the raid that is happening throughout this week.
Is there information you can share about efforts in the Somali community or any senior river side to organize rapid response or training them on your rights?
You can answer, but I just want to follow up.
What's happening?
ICE is here.
They have been here since yesterday morning.
I saw them myself last night riding on City Riverside through the SUV.
About 45 minutes.
Go in circles.
White dudes with masks.
That's what we saw.
They are stopping the citizens.
They knocked one door over there, right here in this building.
I guess the person they were looking for wasn't there.
So the neighbor opened the door, right next door, opened the door because they hear the noise.
And they were detained.
They're like, what's your documents?
So they're not discriminated.
They just want to see who looks like Somali and that's where they come.
So they are there.
And one thing I do want to share, they hate the media.
We definitely know that as they are targeting the Somali American community, as others have said also, we are deeply concerned about the undocumented community because our communities are intersected and living together a lot of times and working together.
unidentified
So we're deeply concerned about that at this moment.
There's a question about organizing.
So yes, we already had existing infrastructure for rapid response.
I think we are at a moment now where we did not expect this escalation this fast.
So we are working.
We just had a meeting last night.
We're working with other organizations.
We need to ramp up and provide a greater support.
We're also asking the local media, as they share, just share basic information about what people should know if they're needing help, and specifically the general public who are like, how do I help?
What do I do?
And there's information about that.
We will continue to provide updated information through all of our organizations and we encourage the public to share that.
There's a lot of opportunists on social media that are using this moment to try to send false information, to try to create more fear.
We're encouraging the public to get as much information from credible sources and not to rely on bloggers, influencers, whether they're here or abroad, because there's a lot of people also pulling old videos of some things that have happened and trying to reignite that as something that is currently happening.
unidentified
Can the elected officials in the room speak to you what it's been like trying to gather information about what's happening both from federal authorities but also from your communities as you mentioned trying to verify what's happening I mean I would say I think our legislators are collectively all responding as much as they can to community concerns.
We have been in communication with the governor's office and he's trying to give us as much information as he has.
ICE isn't giving any agency heads up across any jurisdiction so we know that.
We're also getting a lot of emails and contacts.
I've had hundreds of calls and text messages since the article dropped yesterday and I think one of the most important things is people want to know what they can do and how they can protect their immigrant neighbors.
There have been building captains, block captains, and so people are organizing in ways I haven't seen before around this issue.
So the reality is we're getting trickled down.
Right now as I speak to you, someone who was a patient, they dragged him out and the NAS just sent me a text message saying that that individual who she was providing services was abducted right now as we speak.
So that is the way we're getting information from our constituents, our friends and across the state.
So many of the individuals who are reaching out understand that we're going to be looking for resources for those individuals to make sure that their loved ones have got access to a legal process.
So it's helpful to understand that those actions will lead to many folks reaching out to us.
From the federal perspective, we will let other people who are at the federal level, from our senate, as our congressional leaders, deal with the federal level.
Can you just go over the details of this immediate kidnapping information?
So we're getting messages as things are happening on the ground.
And so the first rapid response, when people know that we are the elected officials, they'll be reaching to us to make sure that we can provide them with the immediate resources for families to track those individuals.
One of the individuals who was abducted is now in Wilmar.
They were picked up from Minneapolis right here and making sure that folks can follow them.
They will not have discovered if they didn't know how to follow that through process.
So we want to make sure that there is a way for their loved ones to know what is going to happen next.
It was in a medical setting that they were getting service and they were abducted right now.
And I just want to touch on one thing also that as elected officials, we're not just representing our communities.
We are rooted in community.
Folks are very well connected to community members.
And so a lot of times we get information directly from people that are impacted.
They have our cell phones, they have our emails, they know our family members.
We're all connected to each other.
And what we've heard and what we've seen is that not only have our immigrant communities been targeted, but a lot of the folks that have been detained and captured are folks that are U.S. citizens.
People that are not only U.S. citizens, but born here, raised here.
I've spoken to a lot of young folks that have said that they have to walk around now with their passports, even though they were born in America.
They've never been to Somalia.
Some of them, their parents were born here in America.
And so I think that's a shame and that's unfortunate.
But we've seen folks rally the troops' neighborhoods, organizing block by block.
We've seen entire apartment buildings organized, forming WhatsApp groups, group chats.
And so what Representative Gomez said earlier today was exactly right, that we must stay united.
We've got to organize together.
We've got to get involved.
Join these group chats, these neighborhood group chats, whether it's text messages or WhatsApp.
Are you going to get some of these annoying auntie-forwarded chats, messages that are like chain messages?
Probably, yeah, right.
But at the same time, this is the best way in which we can combat this hate and combat this fear.
There has been some false alarms because the level of anxiety is so high and people, we're trying our best to not only disseminate information, but fact find and find out what's real, what's happening, what's not happening.
But we're getting that information directly from community.
unidentified
You mentioned earlier that the Republican symptoms, you sent an email and they're not spoken to you.
Would you say they are standing with Trump rather than with the government that they represent?
Thank you for that question.
I did send an email to our Republican leaders, both in the House and the Senate, asking them to not only condemn what Donald Trump said about the Somali community, but to come today and stand with us.
I have not gotten a response.
I look forward to their response if they ever want to respond, but we do know that in the past few weeks they have been cheering what this president and this administration has been doing.
They have sent letters to their federal Republican delegation telling them, good job, we want you to keep doing.
And so I want an answer for their Somali constituents who are U.S. citizens and whether they think that they are also garbage and they agree with Donald Trump or not.
This is for like one of the Somali members.
The allegations of the over a billion dollars in fraud and a lot of that money being sent over to Somalia to terrorist organizations and it's all rooting right here in Minneapolis.
What's your response on that?
Well first of all most of these fraud is wrong period.
Anyone who commits crime against our community should be held accountable, period.
We know that minority communities and communities of color are oftentimes criminalized through the actions of individuals, and this is unfair to our community.
unidentified
And unfortunately, you know, none of those things have been substantiated at all.
But crime like fraud is definitely something that impacts all of us, and we're going to do everything possible to ensure that our community responds to that.
We are literally trying to figure out how to support our community in the best moment.
unidentified
So, I really appreciate your time today for covering this.
Thank you.
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President Trump announced a plan to cut fuel efficiency standards for cars that were implemented under the Biden administration.
From the Oval Office, the President also weighed in on talks between Russia and Ukraine, the situation in Venezuela, and Somali immigrants in Minnesota.
My administration has taken historic action to lower costs for American consumers, protect American auto jobs, and make buying a car much more affordable for countless American families and also safer.