Trump Calls Somali Immigrants 'Garbage' Amid Feud with Ilhan Omar

During a Cabinet meeting on December 2, 2025, President Trump said four times within seven seconds that Somali immigrants are "garbage," adding that Somalis "come from hell," contribute nothing, and should return to fix their home country. He also directed similar language at Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali American who represents Minnesota, amid an ongoing public feud between them.

The remarks drew swift condemnation from civil-rights groups, immigration advocates and elected officials, who called the language dehumanizing and warned it could fuel discrimination against Somali American communities, many of whom arrived as refugees from war and famine and have become established in local economies, particularly in Minnesota.

Omar responded publicly that Trump's focus on her was "creepy." The episode extended a pattern from Trump's first term of disparaging entire nations or ethnic groups in blunt, derogatory terms, and renewed debate over how presidential rhetoric toward immigrant communities shapes public discourse and policy.