WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is ending temporary protected status for Somali immigrants, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a post on X on Tuesday.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed on X that "Somali nationals with TPS are now required to leave the United States by March 17, 2026."
The United States provides temporary protected status to immigrants from certain countries that are affected by safety conditions such as natural and human-made disasters.
The Trump administration has moved to crack down on immigration from certain countries in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. President Donald Trump has in particular targeted Somalis in recent weeks, accusing them of destroying the country and saying that "the Somalians should be out of here."
The Trump administration has also targeted Somalis in Minnesota, after renewed focus on a fraud scandal in which many accused of wrongdoing were citizens of Somali descent.
Fox News was first to report the development.
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “Temporary means temporary.”
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” she said. “Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
The U.S. first recognized people from Somalia as being eligible for temporary protected status in 1991.
At a rally in December, Trump referred to Somalia and several other nations as "hellholes" and complained that “we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster.”
“Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime,” he said at the time. “The only thing they’re good at is going after ships.”
The Trump administration has moved to end temporary protected status from countries including Afghanistan, Venezuela, Haiti and South Sudan. Multiple moves are being challenged in court, including the administration's push to end temporary protected status for people from Haiti and South Sudan. In October, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with plans to end the program for Venezuelans.
