Republican voter Salman Fiqy is one of the many Somalis that the Trump administration's new enforcement operation is targeting in the Twin Cities.
Fiqy, who publicly endorsed Donald Trump before the 2024 election and organized a pre-election rally where Somali American leaders backed the Republican ticket, told reporters he had somehow assumed Trump's anti-Somali rhetoric over the past decade was not meant literally.
When asked about Trump's harsh statements on Somali refugees, Fiqy previously said the comments "rubbed us the wrong way," but added that "the majority realize it was a political statement to rally his base."
The Trump administration has now deployed approximately 100 ICE agents to Minneapolis and St. Paul to target undocumented Somali immigrants, according to federal officials. During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump called Somali immigrants and Representative Ilhan Omar "garbage" and said "I don't want them in our country."
Fiqy, who arrived in Minnesota from Somalia in 2009, had told Fox News Digital that Somalis were switching to the Republican Party over education concerns and conservative Muslim values, particularly regarding LGBTQ issues in schools. He hosted a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol in November where nearly 20 Somali community and religious leaders endorsed Trump, citing the economy, public safety, and family values.
At the rally, Fatmata, a business owner who works in the heavily Somali Karmel Mall, acknowledged that many Somali Americans "knew Trump was coming with the baggage" on immigration but "preferred to vote for Trump with those views" based on religious convictions.
The baggage has now arrived.
Trump has ended Temporary Protected Status for Somali migrants, ordered a review of green cards issued to Somalis, and posted on Truth Social that "Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State" and told them to be "sent back to where they came from."
Fiqy had previously stated that he switched from Democrat to Republican because "Somalis were inherently Democrats" during the Obama era, but "things have changed for the worse with the Democrats."
