US House member Ilhan Omar on Sunday defended the Somali community in her Minnesota congressional district, saying it was “completely disgusting” when Donald Trump recently referred to them as garbage.

“These are Americans that he is calling ‘garbage,’” Omar, a Somalia-born Democrat, said while responding to the president’s remarks on CBS’s Face the Nation. “I think it is also really important for us to remember that this kind of hateful rhetoric – and this level of dehumanizing – can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president.”

Those comments from Omar – who also spent some of her CBS interview discussing fraud cases involving Minnesota Somalis in recent years – served as replies to insults from Trump during a cabinet meeting. Beside calling them “garbage”, the president said Minnesota’s Somali community should be sent back to Somalia.

“Look at their nation,” Trump also said. “Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other.

“Look, these Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country – billions and billions.”

The Trump administration restricted all immigration cases for Somalis already in the US, along with people from 18 other countries. Community members expected the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area, where most Somalis in the state reside, to see increased immigration enforcement operations. And, as a consequence, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey recently signed an executive order prohibiting federal, state and local officials from using city-owned parking lots, ramps, garages and lots for immigration enforcement operations.

On Thursday, Omar penned an op-ed in the New York Times claiming that Trump was resorting to racist attacks because various campaign promises – including a better US economy – have been failing.

“While the president wastes his time attacking my community … the promises of economic prosperity he made in his run for president [in 2024] have not come to fruition,” Omar wrote in the Times. “The president knows he is failing, and so he is reverting to what he knows best: trying to divert attention by stoking bigotry.”

Attention on Minnesota’s Somali community ramped up in recent weeks as the right wing has seized on fraud cases in the state. Dozens of Somali residents were convicted in a scheme that involved lying to the state to receive reimbursements for meal disbursements, medical care and other services. The investigations into the series of fraud schemes spanned years – one of the most significant cases had charges filed three years ago.

One of the cases revolves around an organization called Feeding Our Future, which partnered with state agencies to distribute meals to kids. Federal prosecutors alleged that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the organization submitted fake documents to trick government officials into thinking they served food to thousands of children. The group’s founder was convicted in March. US House Republicans have since launched an investigation aimed at how fraud cases were handled by Tim Walz, Minnesota’s Democratic governor who was his party’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election won by Trump.

Omar on Sunday said she was among the first members of Congress who called on the fraud in question to be investigated. She also said the fraud was “reprehensible”.

Furthermore, Omar denied Trump administration allegations that taxpayer money involved in fraud investigations in Minnesota was siphoned to a terrorist organization in Somalia.

The treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said his department was investigating whether the taxpayer money was going to al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization in Somalia. House Republicans have also echoed those claims.

“There are people who have been prosecuted and who have been sentenced,” Omar said. “If there was a linkage in that – the money that they had stolen going to terrorism – then that is a failure of the FBI and our court system in not figuring that out and basically charging them with these charges.”

Bessent also said those involved in the fraud donated to Omar’s campaign. Omar said Sunday: “We sent that money back a couple years ago.”

A major, 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the Alaska-Canada border on Saturday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The temblor happened at 11:41 a.m. Alaska time about 56 miles north of Yakutat, Alaska, data from the agency shows.

U.S.G.S. data earlier reported that the magnitude was 6.7.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.

The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.

The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).

Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.

Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.

“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.

Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.

That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.

“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”

Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.

“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”

A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.

Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forward for the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.