By Brooke Anderson

 

WASHINGTON, 11 Dec. - (ANA) - Somali Americans are facing growing hostility as US President Donald Trump ramps up his derogatory comments towards the community.

 

In recent days, he has referred to them as "garbage" and "filthy" and has said he doesn't want them in the United States.

 

 Trump’s remarks came days after the New York Times reported on a welfare fraud scheme involving Somalis in Minnesota and around two weeks after National Guard members in Washington, DC, were shot by an Afghan national.

 

This isn't the first time Trump has lashed out at the community. Over the last decade, he has made disparaging remarks about Somali Americans, including Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

 

The impact has been significant, particularly in Minnesota, home to the largest Somali gathering in the US.

 

Families are reporting a spike in the bullying of children at schools, there has been an uptick in immigration arrests (despite the majority of Somalis in the US being citizens), and places where they typically gather, such as malls and cafés, have become eerily empty.

 

"The community is on edge. They're nervous," Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The New Arab.

 

"With people already biased against our community, they're feeling vindicated to say these things," said Hussein, referring to Trump's taboo-breaking rhetoric that appears to have inspired more open expressions of racism.

 

Earlier this month, an employee at a Cinnabon bakery in Wisconsin was videotaped yelling racial slurs at a Somali customer wearing a hijab. The customer said the employee’s outburst occurred after she had requested more caramel for her cinnamon roll.

 

The worker replied that "you could see me squeezing it through that witchcraft bandana you're wearing on the top of your head (basically referring to my hijab……)," per the caption on the TikTok video that was posted online of the incident.

 

An online fundraising campaign reportedly raised over $100,000 to help the employee, who was dismissed following the incident, possibly a sign of not only a growing acceptance of open racism, but also widespread support for it.

 

"It feels like we've gone back in time 40 years in terms of the racist rhetoric that's now accepted in mainstream politics," Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of CAIR, told TNA.

 

"We don't want to be the bigots of today condemned by future generations," he added.

 

In response to ongoing threats against the Somali community, Hussein says they have put together letters to schools to raise the issue of bullying Somali children, and they’ve been working in coordination with other communities.

 

Meanwhile, many young Somali Americans are responding with humour online, with some referring to Minneapolis as "Minnadishu" (a reference to Mogadishu) and others sarcastically calling Minnesota "the promised land".

 

Hussein has felt encouraged by online humour and solidarity across different communities.

 

"It's a lot to go through right now. But I think our community will be better off for it. Every time our community is wrongly attacked, it is a time when people come together," he said.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/11 December 2025 - - -