(MENAFN- Live Mint) Calling Minnesota a 'hub of fraudulent money laundering activity' under Democratic Governor Tim Walz, US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was immediately terminating temporary deportation protections (TDP) for Somalis living in Minnesota.

"Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing," Trump said in a late-night post on Truth Social, without providing any evidence.

"I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota," he said.

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Tim Walz responded on X, saying, "It's not surprising that the President has chosen to broadly target an entire community. This is what he does to change the subject."

According to AP, the number of migrants would be affected by the announcement could be very small. A report produced for Congress in August put the number of Somalis covered by the program at just 705 nationwide.

According to KSTP, Julia Decker, a spokesperson for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesot, said that typically, TPS terminations have to be posted in the Federal Register before the date a country's designation is set to expire.

Stating that this is not done state-by-state, she added,“so the federal government would have to end TPS for all Somali immigrants, not just those in Minnesota.”

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Trump's decision 'will tear families apart', said the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In a statement, Executive Director Jaylani Hussein said,“This decision, fueled by harmful misinformation campaigns that we believe have external political motives, will tear families apart and send individuals to a country they have not known for over 20 years."

He further added, "This is not just a bureaucratic change; it is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric. We strongly urge President Trump to reverse this misguided decision.”

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Then-President George H.W. Bush had launched the TPS program for Somalis.

It grants government protection to eligible foreign-born individuals who cannot return home safely due to civil war or natural disasters.

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