WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump raged Tuesday against Somali immigrants, saying they should be unwelcome in the United States as he highlighted the long woes of the African country.
Trump’s heated remarks come as a scandal unfolds in the state of Minnesota where prosecutors say more than $1 billion went to non-existent social services, largely through false billing by Somali Americans.
In Somalia “they have no anything, they just run around killing each other,” Trump told a cabinet meeting.
“Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country,” he said.
Trump has a long history of deriding minorities and rose to political prominence spreading false conspiracy theories that former president Barack Obama was born in Kenya rather than the United States.
Trump has often played up fears of the white majority of losing political and cultural power.
“We’re at a tipping point,” Trump told the cabinet meeting.
“We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”
Trump said that Somali Americans “contribute nothing” and berated Ilhan Omar, an outspoken Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota who is originally from Somalia.
“Ilhan Omar is garbage. Her friends are garbage,” Trump said.
“Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.”
Trump last week ended protections against deportations of Somalis in place in the United States since 1991, when Somalia descended into anarchy.
Prosecutors are investigating several plots to steal taxpayer money in Minnesota, including by groups that falsely claimed to be feeding children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Minnesota, a historically Democratic-leaning state with a history of welcoming refugees, is home to a major Somali American community.
The scandal takes an added political dimension as Minnesota’s governor is Tim Walz, a Democrat who was the party’s unsuccessful candidate for vice president in last year’s election.
Last week, Trump separately ordered a halt to all visa issuance to Afghans after a deadly shooting in Washington by an Afghan who worked for US intelligence during the war and was granted asylum after the Taliban returned to power.
‘We don’t want them’: Trump rages against Somali immigrants
https://arab.news/bs8d4
‘We don’t want them’: Trump rages against Somali immigrants
- In Somalia “they have no anything, they just run around killing each other,” Trump told a cabinet meeting
- “Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country“
US senators visit key Ukrainian port city as they push for fresh sanctions on Russia
- The visit and the push for Congress to take up sanctions on Russia come at a crucial moment in the conflict
WASHINGTON: A delegation of US senators was returning Wednesday from a trip to Ukraine, hoping to spur action in Congress for a series of sanctions meant to economically cripple Moscow and pressure President Vladimir Putin to make key concessions in peace talks.
It was the first time US senators have visited Odesa, Ukraine’s third-most populous city and an economically crucial Black Sea port that has been particularly targeted by Russia, since the war began nearly four years ago. Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse made the trip. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis had planned to join but was unable to for personal reasons.
“One of the things we heard wherever we stopped today was that the people of Ukraine want a peace deal, but they want a peace deal that preserves their sovereignty, that recognizes the importance of the integrity of Ukraine,” Shaheen said on a phone call with reporters.
The visit and the push for Congress to take up sanctions on Russia come at a crucial moment in the conflict. Delegations for the two sides were also meeting in Switzerland for two days of US-brokered talks, but neither side appeared ready to budge on key issues like territory and future security guarantees. The sanctions, senators hoped, could prod Putin toward settling for peace, as the US has set a June deadline for settlement.
“Literally nobody believes that Russia is acting in good faith in the negotiations with our government and with the Ukrainians,” Whitehouse said. “And so pressure becomes the key.”
Still, legislation to impose tough sanctions on Russia has been on hold in Congress for months.
Senators have put forward a range of sanction measures, including one sweeping bill that would allows the Trump administration to impose tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports, which are crucial to financing Russia’s military. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has also advanced a series of more-targeted bills that would sanction China’s efforts to support Russia’s military, commandeer frozen Russian assets and go after what’s known as Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers being used to circumvent sanctions already in place.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has co-sponsored the Senate’s sweeping sanctions and tariff legislation, also released a statement during the Munich Security Conference this weekend saying that Senate Majority Leader John Thune had committed to bringing up the sanctions bill once it clearly has the 60 votes needed to move through the Senate.
“This legislation will be a game changer,” Graham said. “President Trump has embraced it. It is time to vote.”
Blumenthal, who co-sponsored that bill alongside Graham, also said there is bipartisan support for the legislation, which he called a “very tough sledgehammer of sanctions and tariffs,” but he also noted that “we need to work out some of the remaining details.” Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, have been opposed to President Donald Trump’s campaign to impose tariffs around the world in an effort to strike trade deals and spur more manufacturing in the US
In the House, Democrats are opposed to the tariff provisions of that bill. Instead, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, has proposed separate legislation that makes it more difficult for Trump to waive sanctions, but does away with the tariff provisions.
A separate bill, led by the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks, would bolster US military support for Ukraine by $8 billion. Democrats currently need one more Republican to support an effort to force a vote on that bill.
Once they return to the US, the senators said they would detail how US businesses based in Ukraine have been attacked by Russia. The Democrats are also hoping to build pressure on Trump to send more US weapons to Ukraine. “Putin understands weapons, not words,” Blumenthal said.
Still, the lawmakers will soon return to a Washington where the Trump administration is ambivalent about its long-term commitments to securing peace in Ukraine, as well as Europe. For now, at least, they were buoyed by the conversations from their European counterparts and Republican colleagues.
“We and the Republican senators who were with us in Munich spoke with one voice about our determination to continue to support Ukraine,” Coons said.
