WASHINGTON:-  President Trump has announced the end of the Protected Status (TPS) benefit for Somalis. Trump took to his social media on Friday to target “Somalis in Minnesota” and wrote that he was ending the Temporary Protected Status program.

Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem said Sunday in Minneapolis that her office will evaluate whether to end protection for Somalis under the program. It would require 60 days’ notice to do so. Noem suggested that, if the status were to be ended, the change would apply to Somali immigrants across the country, not just in Minnesota.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allows people from countries troubled by civil war, natural disasters, or other crises to live and work in the United States.

Technically, the status is temporary, and lasts for about 18 months unless it is renewed – but it has been renewed frequently, and for many groups, including Somalis, it has become almost permanent.

Somalis were first granted protected status in 1991, when civil war divided the country and its national government collapsed. This status has been extended several times, including under the previous Trump administration. The most recent renewal lasted until mid-March.

An estimated 42,500 foreign-born Somalis live in Minnesota, but only a small number of them fall under the Temporary Protected Status program.

According to the Congressional Research Service, as of March, there were 705 Somalis in the entire United States who were held under this status. When counting people from other covered countries, there are approximately 8,460 people with protected status in Minnesota.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Mr. Trump wrote on Friday that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of Minnesota”, and said the state was a “hub for fraudulent money laundering activity”.

Several Somali immigrants in Minnesota have been convicted in recent years in fraud schemes, including the embezzlement of government funds from food-assistance programs for hungry children.