U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his administration will revoke the citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia or elsewhere convicted of defrauding American citizens, as part of a broader crackdown on immigration.
“We’re also going to revoke the citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens,” Trump said in a speech at the Detroit Economic Club.
The statement aligns with the administration’s recent moves targeting Somali immigrants, including the decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 1,100 Somalis in the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday.
Noem argued that conditions in Somalia have improved sufficiently to no longer warrant the humanitarian protections, despite ongoing conflict with al-Shabaab militants. “Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” she said in a statement. “Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
The TPS termination, set to expire March 17 unless challenged legally, follows Trump’s criticism of Somali immigrants, whom he has called “garbage” and accused of fraud in Minnesota, home to an estimated 76,000 Somalis. The administration surged over 2,000 federal immigration agents to the state amid allegations of fraudulent daycares involving some Somalis.
Trump highlighted immigrant welfare use in a post, sharing a table of recipient rates by country of origin. The top three listed were Bhutan at 81.4%, Yemen Arab Republic (North) at 75.2%, and Somalia at 71.9%.
While the Trump administration aims to ramp up denaturalizations, the process can be resource-intensive and lengthy.
