Fear continues to grip Minnesota’s Somali community months after a major US immigration crackdown officially scaled down. Many Somali immigrants in Minneapolis say they still live in constant fear of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Among them is Abdi, a 23-year-old Somali asylum seeker who says he would rather remain in hiding in the United States than risk returning home.
“It hasn’t ended,” he said, explaining that immigration officers were still conducting raids in Somali neighbourhoods. Abdi said he rarely stays in one place for more than a few nights and leaves secretly for work to avoid detection.
Although he holds Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which allows Somalis fleeing conflict to legally live and work in the US, he says many people with valid documents have still been detained.
The Trump administration had attempted to end TPS protections for around 2,500 Somalis, arguing that security conditions in Somalia had improved. However, a federal judge temporarily blocked the move.
Somalis in Minnesota say the crackdown, coupled with harsh rhetoric from President Donald Trump, has left the community feeling targeted. Trump has previously described Somali immigrants as “garbage” and questioned why they should remain in the US.
Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population outside Africa, with many families having settled there after Somalia’s government collapsed in 1991. The East African nation continues to struggle with insecurity, drought and attacks by al-Shabab militants.
Abdi fled Somalia in 2022 after he says al-Shabab tried to recruit him. His family reportedly spent about $15,000 to help him escape. Using a smuggled Kenyan passport, he travelled through Brazil and crossed the dangerous Darién Gap before reaching the US-Mexico border and applying for asylum.
“I would rather live in hiding here for the rest of my life than go back to Somalia, because my life would be at risk,” he said.
US authorities insist the operation has improved public safety. The Department of Homeland Security says thousands of “criminal illegal aliens” were arrested during the enforcement campaign.
But critics, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, say the tactics created fear and chaos in immigrant communities. Omar described masked immigration officers patrolling neighbourhoods with military-style weapons as resembling a “war zone”.
Despite the fear, local churches, mosques and volunteers have united to help families by creating informal warning systems whenever immigration officers are spotted nearby.