Minnesota AG suggests he could file lawsuit against Trump administration over Somalia temporary protected status

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison suggested Monday that his office may be prepared to file a lawsuit if President Trump moves forward with a promise to remove Somalia from the list of countries covered by the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

Appearing with other Democratic leaders at a rally inside the State Capitol, Ellison said that Trump is “wrong on the law” and that his office “is looking at every option on the table to push back against this threat.” In a social media post last week, Trump said “effective immediately” he would terminate TPS for Somalis in Minnesota, while appearing to reference fraud cases in which people of Somali heritage have been convicted.

While most Somali Americans in the United States and Minnesota are citizens, TPS allows some without permanent status to remain in the U.S. if their home countries are deemed too dangerous. 

“This is obviously absurd, obviously political, obviously wrong,” Ellison aid. “But Trump’s ploy is, you know, par for the course, and same as ever.”

Despite Trump’s announcement on social media, any decision to end TPS for a country — including Somalia — would need to come through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with 60 days’ notice, and the decision would apply to the entire country rather than just one state. On Monday, for example, DHS posted this exact 60-day notice to remove Myanmar from temporary protected status.

Since the beginning of his first term, the Trump administration has faced numerous legal challenges over attempts to end TPS for some countries. Just this month, the administration was able to successfully end TPS for Venezuela following a U.S. Supreme Court decision, while an attempt to remove Syria from the list is currently working its way through the courts.

During an appearance in Minneapolis this weekend, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said her agency would follow the proper legal process before posting any decision on Somalia’s temporary protected status. The country first received TPS designation in 1991 after the outbreak of civil war.

“It was never meant to be an asylum program. It was always meant to be put in place after an incident, or an event, on a temporary basis and that’s what the evaluation will be,” Noem said, adding later: “That’s what they’ll look at, to see if something from 30 years ago when this designation was given, if it still holds true and if the individuals still qualify for a TPS program.”

However, at the Capitol rally on Monday morning, Democratic leaders in Minnesota accused the Trump administration of using Somalis as a scapegoat. 

At a news conference afterward, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and a group of state lawmakers forcefully condemned attempts to hold the community collectively responsible for fraud scandals such as Feeding Our Future. They noted that defendants in those cases represent a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of Somali Americans living in Minnesota.

“What our president does the most is create chaos and confusion,” Omar said. “I do believe there are some who are connected to the president who wanted some kind of win, and they thought going after the temporary protected status of Somalis would get them that win. The win they are looking for is for somehow to deprive all of us of our citizenship here in the United States, but unfortunately they’re not going to get that win. None of us (lawmakers) are under temporary protected status. We are all citizens of this country.”