Dec 2 (Reuters) – Officials in Minneapolis on Tuesday said they were not aware of imminent federal immigration raids targeting the area’s Somali community, which has come under blistering attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump in recent days.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, responding to a report in the New York Times that upward of 100 federal immigration agents were poised to descend on his city and neighboring St. Paul to target undocumented Somali residents, said regardless of whether raids were coming, the Somali community would be supported in every way possible by local authorities.

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Frey, a Democrat, said local police would not work with federal agents on any immigration matters, and he strongly criticized Trump’s recent attacks on the Somali community, including on Tuesday when the president called them “garbage” and said “we don’t want them in our country.”

“To villainize an entire group is ridiculous under any circumstances,” Frey said.

Anti-immigration rhetoric was a major part of Trump’s campaign and since taking office in January he has overseen an aggressive campaign by masked federal agents across the country that has instilled fear in immigrant communities and prompted protests and backlashes in the cities targeted.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, did not confirm raids were imminent in Minneapolis, but said agents were enforcing immigration laws across the country every day.

About 80,000 Somalis live in Minnesota, mostly in the Twin Cities metro region. Frey said the community had been an economic and cultural boon to the area and had been living in the U.S. for several decades. The vast majority of Somalis in the U.S., Frey said, are American citizens, and he said he’s convinced any immigration action would ensnare people in the country legally.

LATEST ATTACKS

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump ratcheted up his inflammatory rhetoric about Somalis, saying they had contributed nothing to the U.S.

“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the president was “absolutely right to highlight the problems caused by the radical Somali migrants that the Democrats let invade our country and steal from American taxpayers.”

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, the first Black mayor of his Twin City which is also home to many Somalis, said Trump’s attacks on that community were “racist” and “xenophobic.”

Citing the opening words to the preamble of the U.S. Constitution – “We the People” – as the phrase that launched the American experience, Carter said “the sacred moments in American history are the moments we’ve had to decide who the ‘we’ is, who is included.’

“Who (Trump) is attacking aren’t just Somalis – they are Somali-Americans,” Carter said. “Who he attacked is Americans.”

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A Minneapolis man is accused of participating in a fraud scheme that stole more than $1 million in state, federal and local grants.

Tony Robinson, 41, is charged with five counts of wire fraud and conspiracy offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.

The attorney’s office said from December 2021 to October 2022, Robinson facilitated the submission of false grant progress reports for an organization called Encouraging Leaders.

“Robinson’s reports claimed Encouraging Leaders used grant funds to organize events and activities that never occurred, and overstated Encouraging Leaders’ involvement in events that had occurred,” the attorney’s office said. “Robinson’s reports also falsely claimed that Encouraging Leaders had assisted various students, when in fact it had not.”

Robinson is accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Justice, Hennepin County, the city of Minneapolis, the Minnesota departments of education and human services, the Minnesota State Arts Board and other agencies.

Tezzaree El-Amin Champion, who founded Encouraging Leaders, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and illegally possessing a firearm as a felon in February. He was sentenced last month to seven years in prison and five years of supervised release. He also must pay nearly $3.5 million in restitution.

Encouraging Leaders received more than $2.7 million in grants, much of which Champion took for himself, according to court records. During Robinson’s alleged involvement in the scheme, more than $1 million was fraudulently taken.

Champion also engaged in fraud using a marketing company he owned called Futuristic Management, court records show. That group stole more than $2.1 million. His co-defendant in that case, Marcus Hamilton, also pleaded guilty.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A two-time convicted sex offender on probation kidnapped and raped a woman at a hotel in Bloomington in September, according to court documents.

Convicted sex offender kidnapped, raped woman he met on Snapchat: charges

The allegations:

According to court records, Abdimahat Bille Mohamed, 28, of Minneapolis, kidnapped and raped a woman he met on Snapchat.

Mohamed picked up the woman at her home in Mankato in September, then drove her to a hotel in Bloomington, where he held her against her will for several days and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.

The victim told investigators that Mohamed told her, “You’re not going home,” after she got into his car, according to court documents.

She also told investigators that Mohamed took her phone and told her, “You’re not leaving,” when she tried to escape.

On Sept. 21, nearly a week after her kidnapping, the “very distraught and shaken up” victim jumped out of Mohamed’s car on Aldrich Avenue South in Minneapolis, where a resident called police.

Suspect convicted of two previous sexual assaults in Minneapolis

The previous cases:

The September incident happened less than four months after he was sentenced in two unrelated sexual assault cases, including one that involved a 15-year-old girl.

In May 2024, Mohamed was arrested and charged after prosecutors said he raped a woman he met on Snapchat at his apartment in Minneapolis.

In that case, the victim told a paramedic that she had been strangled and raped.

Mohamed threatened to shoot the victim unless she had sex with him, prosecutors said.

According to court records, a witness heard arguing and walked into a bedroom to find Mohamed on top of the victim. He threatened to kill the witness, prosecutors said.

In October 2024, he was charged in another rape that prosecutors said happened in December 2017.

DNA collected after his arrest in 2024 linked him to the 2017 case that involved a 15-year-old girl.

According to court records, Mohamed met the girl on Snapchat and picked her up in St. Paul. He drove her to Minneapolis, where two men got into the car, prosecutors said. One of the men pointed a handgun at the victim and forced her to perform oral sex on another man in the car before Mohamed got in the backseat and raped her, documents said.

Suspect struck plea deals, avoided prison time

The sentences:

In May, a Hennepin County judge sentenced Mohamed in the two rape cases. But under the terms of a plea agreement, he served no prison time.

For the 2017 sexual assault that involved a minor, he was sentenced to three years in prison, but the sentence was stayed for five years, meaning he did not serve prison time. He was sentenced to 364 days in the Hennepin County workhouse but received credit for time served. In addition, he was sentenced to five years of probation.

For the 2024 sexual assault, he was sentenced to 14 months in prison, but that sentence was also stayed, meaning he never went to prison.  He was also sentenced – and received credit for time served – to 364 days in the Hennepin County workhouse. In addition, he was sentenced to a day of probation.

The response:

When reached via email on Monday for comment, a spokesman for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the cases, said he was “checking in with staff.”