Trump Slams Somali Migrants: Fix Your Own Country

In a blunt moment that cut through years of polite political hedging, President Donald Trump told his cabinet on Tuesday that Somali migrants who come to the United States but refuse to respect it should return home and rebuild their own country. “They come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch,” he said, adding, “We don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.” His comments land at a time when Somali migration has become one of the most under-discussed drivers of cultural tension, public-safety concerns, and taxpayer-funded fraud in states like Minnesota, where nearly 100,000 Somali migrants were brought in under past federal refugee programs. Even the New York Times—normally the first to shield progressive immigration policies—has acknowledged that “Somali refugees who came to the United States after their country’s civil war were raised in a culture in which stealing from the country’s dysfunctional and corrupt government was widespread.”

Trump didn’t stop there. “I don’t want them in our country,” he said during the meeting, before adding, “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks … I can say it about other countries too. We got to, we have to rebuild our country … [Rep.] Ilhan Omar [D-MN] is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work. These aren’t people that say, ‘Let’s go, come on, let’s make this place [Somalia] great.’ These are people that do nothing but complain.” While Democrats will likely rush to defend the comments as “xenophobic,” the political reality is harder to spin: the crimes, fraud schemes, and welfare-system abuses carried out by certain Somali leaders have become impossible for voters to ignore. That includes the staggering embezzlement of more than $1 billion in aid funds meant for autistic children, hungry families, homebuyers, and vulnerable communities. These cases were so sprawling that federal investigators uncovered networks of migration fraud alongside welfare scams—revealing a deeper structural problem that immigration advocates have spent years trying to avoid addressing.

The challenge is not just crime, but assimilation itself. The United States—rooted in individual liberty and personal responsibility—bears little resemblance to Somalia’s clan-based, conflict-ridden political culture. That difference has created pockets of insularity where assimilation stalls, accountability collapses, and fringe political actors are elevated rather than questioned. Many local residents have noticed these trends firsthand, while Democrat officials have often ignored or buried early warnings from state agencies. Instead of confronting the criminal behavior, too many leaders have chosen to shield political allies, even at the cost of public trust. Trump’s deputies at the Department of Homeland Security, by contrast, have increased arrests and investigations tied to migration and identity fraud in Minnesota, a move that resonates with voters who have grown frustrated watching taxpayer dollars siphoned off with little consequence.

Meanwhile, Somali activists and self-styled community “leaders” have attempted to rewrite the narrative by portraying migrants as victims rather than acknowledging the systemic issues uncovered by investigators. But with the 2026 election cycle approaching—and swing voters increasingly alarmed by both the fraud and the political cover-ups—it’s becoming harder for Democrats to distance themselves from the consequences of their own policies. Trump’s message, blunt as it is, reflects a growing sentiment among Americans: a nation cannot defend its values, or its taxpayers, if it refuses to speak plainly about the problems unfolding right in front of it.