Mtp.Fire in the Snow: Rep. Ilhan Omar Vows Legal Fight as Trump Targets Minnesota’s Somali Heartland with TPS Reversal

Fire in the Snow: Rep. Ilhan Omar Vows Legal Fight as Trump Targets Minnesota’s Somali Heartland with TPS Reversal

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – In the shadow of the Mississippi’s frozen banks, where the call to prayer mingles with the hum of snowplows, Rep. Ilhan Omar lit a match this weekend against the flames of fear.

President Donald Trump’s abrupt Friday night decree to “immediately” terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in Minnesota – a move he branded as a crackdown on “fraudulent money laundering” and “terrorizing gangs” – has ripped open old wounds in the nation’s largest Somali diaspora. But Omar, the trailblazing congresswoman whose own story is etched in the very soil of this state, isn’t backing down. She’s calling it what she sees: a discriminatory dagger aimed at her people, her home, and the soul of America’s promise.

“Trump’s announcement… is legally problematic – while a president does have a lot of authority to designate and revoke TPS, he cannot legally wield that power to discriminate against an ethnic group or to target a state, like MN,” Omar declared in a fiery statement on X that has already amassed over 500,000 views. “This ain’t over.”

Her words, delivered with the unyielding cadence of a survivor who fled Mogadishu’s chaos at age eight, landed like a gauntlet thrown in the White House’s direction. As vigils flicker across Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside – the “Little Mogadishu” neighborhood that’s become a beacon for 87,000 Somali Minnesotans – Omar’s defiance is rallying a coalition of lawmakers, activists, and everyday families bracing for the fallout.

The Decree That Shook the Heartland

It came without warning, as Trump’s midnight missives often do. On Truth Social, the president painted Minnesota – under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, whom he derisively calls “Tampon Tim” – as a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.” “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” he wrote, invoking unsubstantiated claims of Medicaid scams and terror ties that echo years of far-right rhetoric.

The target? TPS, a humanitarian shield created by Congress in 1990 to protect migrants from war-torn nations like Somalia, where civil strife has raged since 1991. Extended dozens of times under both parties – most recently by President Biden through March 2026 – it currently safeguards just 705 Somali-born individuals nationwide, a fraction of Minnesota’s Somali tapestry. Many here are U.S. citizens, entrepreneurs, nurses, and Uber drivers who’ve woven themselves into the fabric of a state that welcomed them with open arms and progressive policies.

But Trump’s order isn’t just policy; it’s personal. By zeroing in on “Somalis in Minnesota” – a state he lost narrowly in 2024, partly thanks to strong Somali turnout – critics see a retaliatory swipe at a community that’s long been a political lightning rod. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has until mid-January to formalize the revocation, which would require 60 days’ notice and apply nationwide, not just to the Gopher State. Yet the optics? A president wielding executive power like a blunt instrument, targeting an ethnic enclave in a blue stronghold.

Omar’s Stand: From Refugee to Resistance Leader

Omar knows this battlefield intimately. Elected in 2018 as one of the first Muslim women in Congress, she’s faced Trump’s barbs before – from “Send her back!” chants at his rallies to accusations of divided loyalties. But this hits closer: It endangers families like hers, who arrived in 1995 after years in a Kenyan refugee camp, building lives amid Minnesota’s lakes and winters.

In her response, Omar dismantled the legal scaffolding of Trump’s move with surgical precision. Presidents can designate TPS, she noted, but revoking it demands evidence of improved conditions in the home country – not ethnic scapegoating or state-specific vendettas. Somalia remains a powder keg of famine, al-Shabaab insurgency, and clan violence; yanking protections now could shatter families, upend businesses, and invite deportations to peril.

“This is not just an attack on immigrants; it’s an assault on the Minnesota values that make us who we are,” Omar told reporters outside her district office Saturday, flanked by hijab-clad supporters holding signs reading “TPS = Humanity.” “We’ve integrated, contributed, thrived. Trump wants to rewind the clock to fear-mongering. We’re fighting in the courts, the streets, and the halls of Congress.”

Her office is already coordinating with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who vowed to “explore all options” against what he called a “bigoted whim.” Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar echoed the outrage on X: “Another late-night threat by Donald Trump… Maybe the President should spend his evenings working on bringing down costs instead of targeting Somalis who have been in our country for years.”

Echoes of Pain, Waves of Defiance

In Cedar-Riverside’s bustling markets, where spices from Hargeisa mix with the scent of fresh naan, the decree has sown quiet terror. “I’ve been here 20 years, paid taxes, raised American kids,” said Amina Hassan, a 45-year-old nurse whose TPS lapsed years ago but whose brother clings to it. “Now? We feel hunted in our own home.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Minnesota (CAIR-MN) decried it as “Islamophobic rhetoric” that “will tear families apart,” urging faith leaders to mobilize. Even across the Atlantic, pressure mounts: Minnesota Somalis are imploring Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to publicly rebuke Trump, amplifying a post on X that’s gone viral with over 160,000 views.

Gov. Walz fired back swiftly: “It’s not surprising that the President has chosen to broadly target an entire community. This is what he does to change the subject.” As Trump’s broader deportation machine revs up – already axing TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians – Minnesota stands as ground zero for resistance.

The Fight Ahead: Courts, Conscience, and the Long Game

Omar’s closing line – “This ain’t over” – isn’t bravado; it’s blueprint. Legal challenges could tie the revocation in knots, forcing a reckoning on whether TPS can be weaponized for politics. Community funds are pooling for legal aid, while organizers plan statewide rallies echoing the 2018 “No Muslim Ban Ever” marches.

In a nation fracturing along fault lines of fear and fortitude, Minnesota’s Somali story – one of exile turned empowerment – refuses to fade. Trump may have swung the axe, but Omar and her allies are forging a shield. As snow dusts the minarets of Masjid Al-Iman, one thing rings clear: The heartland’s newest Americans aren’t just staying. They’re standing taller.

For the Somalis of Minnesota, this isn’t the end of a chapter. It’s the spark of the next. And Ilhan Omar? She’s right there, leading the charge.