Trump Tells Minnesotans to 'Fight Back' Against Somali Immigrants, Day After Mall of America Terror Plot Charge

President Donald Trump told Minnesotans on Thursday, Oct. 8, that their state is "being taken over by Somali Immigrants" and that "the people of Minnesota must fight back."

The post on Truth Social continued: "There is Violence, Murder, and Mayhem all over the State." He wrote that residents had been "robbed, and abandoned by your State Government," and called Gov. Tim Walz (D) "an incompetent thief who doesn't want to get involved." He offered no evidence for the theft accusation.

"The Somalians should not be allowed to get away with what they are doing. They view you as weak and stupid people. Fight back Minnesota, fight back! If you need, the Federal Government will come to your rescue," Trump wrote. He also said Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey "must immediately ask for Federal help," and "leave the rest to us."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request to explain what Trump wants Minnesotans to do.

What preceded the post

The post came a day after the FBI and Justice Department announced charges against Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, a U.S. citizen of Somali heritage. Federal officials accuse him of talking online with a source for almost two years about traveling to Somalia to join a foreign terrorist organization and then carrying out an attack in Minnesota. The Minnesota Reformer reports the alleged target was the Mall of America. Those are allegations. Mohamud has not been tried.

There is also a run of gang-linked shootings in the Twin Cities suburbs. WorldNetDaily reports a Tuesday shootout in Bloomington where more than 100 rounds were fired. Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said the current violence is not like the drug and money fights of the 1990s and 2000s. He said the young men involved are often from stable two-parent homes and are feuding over social media disputes.

Then there is the fraud. A scheme that drained a state-run, federally funded child nutrition program has produced scores of prosecutions, and many defendants were Somali American. In May, Aimee Bock, who is not a Somali immigrant and led the nonprofit at the center of the case, was sentenced to 41 years in prison after her conviction last year as the ringleader. Separate Minnesota safety-net fraud cases have also produced convictions of Somali Americans.

The enforcement backdrop

Trump has used the fraud cases to justify Operation Metro Surge, the immigration enforcement push that began in Minnesota in December 2025 and ran into early 2026. The Minnesota Reformer puts the deployment at roughly 3,000 federal agents. Federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens during the operation.

The administration also ended temporary protected status for Somali holders in January. Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said continuing it was "contrary to our national interests."

Trump's language about Somalis is not new. At a December cabinet meeting he called Somalis "garbage" and said he wants them to "go back to where they came from." According to the Minnesota Reformer, more than 80% of Somali Minnesotans are U.S. citizens and roughly 40% were born in this country.

The response

Walz did not engage the fraud or crime claims directly. In a fundraising email from his Small Town PAC, he called the post an "unhinged social media tirade" meant to distract from high prices and the war with Iran. "To our Somali neighbors: You are valued. You belong here. And we're going to stand with you," he wrote. He told Newsweek that Trump "can't land a punch on America's actual enemies."

Attorney General Keith Ellison said: "Somali Minnesotans are our neighbors. They are part of Minnesota. And the Minnesota I know and love is so much better than this bigotry."

Rights groups have accused Trump of using isolated fraud cases as a pretext to target immigrant communities collectively. They have also criticized his pardons of people convicted of fraud. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the Michigan Democratic Party called Trump's rhetoric desperate and racist.

Trump's own framing is that the state's Democratic leadership let fraud and violence spread, and that Minnesotans deserve federal help. The prosecutions, the shootings and Wednesday's terror charge are real events that give that argument its factual footing. The post, though, does not distinguish the defendants and gang members from the state's wider Somali community, which is the point critics seized on.

The midterm context

The post followed another late Wednesday, in which Trump called Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim, a "RADICAL Extremist" and "Terrorist Sympathizer" and backed Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed said Trump "thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor's office."

Midterm elections are in November. Democrats say both posts are meant to shift attention from prices and the Iran war.

The open questions are practical. The White House has not said what "fight back" means or what federal help it envisions beyond the enforcement surge that ended earlier this year. Walz's public answer so far has been the fundraising email, and Frey has not responded to requests for comment.

Mohamud's case will move through federal court.