President Donald Trump repeatedly called Somali immigrants in the United States “garbage,” saying the word multiple times in a brief, deliberate closing to a Cabinet meeting. The remarks marked a further hardening of rhetoric he has used since his 2015 campaign, when he accused Mexico of sending “rapists,” and included later comments about African countries that prompted international outrage.
At the meeting’s end, Trump said repeatedly, “We don’t want ’em in our country,” urging that Somali Americans — a community of roughly 260,000 people — be sent “back to where they came from” to fix their homeland. Cabinet members applauded; Vice President J.D. Vance pumped his fist while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Trump on camera, “Well said.”
The episode underscored tensions in a nation shaped by immigration as well as exclusion. Administration enforcement actions — from increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids to steps aimed at curbing asylum and refugee admissions — have sharpened debates about who qualifies as American. Tens of thousands of people with U.S. citizenship ties have been affected because of family connections.
Scholars say the president’s language shifts public conversation. Carl Bon Tempo, a history professor at SUNY Albany, observed that Trump has normalized speech that many Americans once viewed as beyond acceptable political discourse. Research suggests his rhetoric stands out even within his own party: a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that examined decades of political speech on immigration concluded Trump is the first modern president to express immigration sentiment more negative than the average member of his party.
Trump’s broader policy agenda includes moves to limit birthright citizenship — a claim now before the Supreme Court — and other measures that have largely frozen asylum processing, curtailed refugee admissions and restricted immigration tied to a list of nations affected by past travel bans. Immigration remains a core issue for his administration: a November AP‑NORC poll found about 42% of adults approved of how he handled immigration, down from roughly half earlier in the year, as enforcement intensified.
In the same remarks, Trump attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar, D‑Minn., calling her “garbage” and saying “her friends are garbage.” His words drew condemnation from Minneapolis to Mogadishu. Ibrahim Hassan Hajji, a resident of Somalia’s capital, told The Associated Press that his view of the United States had shifted and that he no longer planned to visit because he never expected a president, especially in a second term, to speak so harshly. Omar described the president’s fixation on her and Somali Americans as “creepy and unhealthy.”
Civil‑rights and legal academics stress that presidential rhetoric matters. Cesar Cuauhtemoc Garcia Hernandez, a civil‑rights law professor, said Trump pushes the boundaries of political discourse and that, as president, his words carry outsized influence. Domestically his support among many Republicans remains strong; abroad, his style has resonated with politicians who favor similarly restrictive approaches to migration.
Anti‑migrant sentiment has also risen in parts of Europe. Debates since Brexit hardened attitudes toward migrants from Eastern Europe, and long‑standing movements such as France’s National Rally have built political bases on opposition to immigration. Observers note that insults targeting national origin that Trump directed at Somali communities would likely run afoul of France’s hate‑speech laws if uttered by most public figures.
When faced with criticism over his increasingly polarizing immigration rhetoric, Trump appeared indifferent. “I hear somebody say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct,’” he said. “I don’t care. I don’t want them.”
