Trump Disparages Somali Immigrants As 'Garbage' In Appalling Xenophobic Attack

In a tirade on Tuesday, Trump railed against Somali immigrants, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he did not want Somali immigrants in the U.S., saying residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country are too reliant on U.S. social safety net and add little to the United States.

Trump’s contemptuous description of the entire immigrant community is the latest example of him pointedly attacking the Somali diaspora in the United States. Somalis have been coming to Minnesota and other states, often as refugees, since the 1990s. The president made no distinction between citizens and non-citizens.

The president’s comment came days after his administration announced it is halting all asylum decisions following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington. The suspect in last week’s incident is originally from Afghanistan but Trump has used the moment to raise questions about immigrants from other nations, including Somalia.

“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” Trump told reporters near the end of a lengthy Cabinet meeting. He added: “Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.”

Trump for years has criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who emigrated from Somalia in 1995 as a child. But he picked up the pace of his attacks on Somalis on social media last week after Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist, published unsubstantiated allegations in a magazine called City Journal, citing unnamed sources, that money stolen from Minnesota programs has gone to al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked militant group that controls parts of Somalia.