Attorney General Ellison leads coalition in defense of Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from Somalia

April 16, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) —  Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today co-led a coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) unlawful and baseless attempt to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from Somali immigrants. The TPS program is a crucial humanitarian lifeline that Congress established in the 1990 to protect immigrants from being returned to countries that have been deemed unsafe, allowing them to work and build a life in the United States. Today’s amicus brief, filed in African Communities Together v. Noem, highlights the humanitarian and economic harm that would result from ending TPS protections for Somali immigrants and urges the court to postpone the revocation.

"I’m deeply disturbed by President Trump’s racist attacks on our Somali neighbors, and this unlawful attempt to strip TPS protections from Somali refugees is just his latest disgraceful attack on the Somali community,” said Attorney General Ellison. “It’s astonishing that the Trump administration is saying both that Somalia is too dangerous to travel to, but safe enough for refugees to return to. Their double speak on this issue clearly demonstrates their approach to TPS for Somali refugees is not rooted in fact. I’m standing up to this unlawful act in the hopes of averting the immense harm it would inflict on many people across Minnesota."

In November 2025, President Trump posted on social media that he was “hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota...” Since then, President Trump has repeatedly launched racist attacks against Somali immigrants, calling them “garbage” and “stupid people” with “low IQs” “from a crooked country, disgusting country, one of the worst countries in the world.” In January 2026, Kristi Noem, then the Secretary of Homeland Security, announced she was terminating Somalia’s TPS designation in part because “permitting Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States would be contrary to the national interest of the United States.” As of January 2026, there are 2,471 Somali nationals in the United States under TPS with another 1,383 with pending applications.

Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991 by Acting Attorney General William Barr due to “extraordinary and temporary conditions.” Civil war has raged in Somalia for the ensuing 35 years, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, children being forced into combat, extrajudicial killings, sexual and gender-based violence, and other human rights abuses. Given the ongoing violence and suffering, Somalia’s TPS designation has continually been in place since 1991.

The attorneys general warn that Somali TPS holders across their states, and their states themselves, will be profoundly harmed if the termination of their TPS status is not postponed. In purporting to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation, Secretary Noem did not claim Somalia as a whole was safe but that “there are areas within Somalia where Somali nationals may live in safety.” Secretary Noem’s colleagues at the State Department do not share her opinion though. The State Department has issued its highest travel advisory for Somalia (Level 4: Do Not Travel), advising that Americans should not travel to Somalia “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health, kidnapping, piracy, and lack of availability of routine consular services,” noting “violent crime is common throughout Somalia, including kidnapping and murder,” “illegal roadblocks are widespread,” and “terrorists continue to plot kidnappings, bombings, and other attacks” and “may attack with little or no warning.”

The coalition notes that revoking Somalia’s TPS designation would present current TPS holders, particularly those with U.S. citizen children, with an agonizing choice: 

• return to Somalia alone, leaving their children behind;
• taking their U.S. citizen children with them to a dangerous country that the children do not know; or
• staying in the United States without authorization and living with significant fear and uncertainty, knowing they cannot work legally and could be forcibly removed to Somalia at any time.

The attorneys general also argue in their brief that revoking Somalia’s TPS designation would harm their economies and workforces. In Minnesota, Somali immigrants pay an estimated $228 million annually in state and local taxes and contribute roughly $8.6 billion to the state’s economy, and they contribute to critical industries across the state. For example, over 15 percent of all Somali immigrants in Minnesota work in home health care, and Somali workers make up 11 percent of the state’s workers in animal food processing.

The attorneys general are urging the court to postpone this attempted TPS revocation to prevent their states and residents of those states from suffering irreparable harm.

Attorney General Ellison, along with the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, and New York, led the brief, and were joined by the attorneys general of Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.