A Somali immigrant who aggressively campaigned for President Donald Trump in 2024 is severing all ties with the president over his recent remarks where he referred to Somali migrants as “garbage,” condemning them as “racist” in an appearance Saturday on CNN.
“It was very dehumanizing and very un-presidential coming from the commander in chief to dehumanize an entire community by calling them garbage,” said Salman Fiqy, who immigrated to the United States from Somalia in 2009. “This is not acceptable by any means.
Fiqy directly coordinated with the Trump campaign last year, being featured prominently at one of the president’s rallies in St. Cloud, Minnesota. In November of 2024, he spoke with other Minnesota Somali leaders in support of Trump at a widely publicized event.
Trump’s remarks earlier this week, however, which included him saying that the country of Somalia “stinks,” were the straw that “broke the camel’s back” for Fiqy.
“His comments about Somalis and other races are racist, and it ignites the racist aspects of the party,” Fiqy said.
Fiqy appeared with CNN’s Victor Blackwell, who asked Fiqy whether he regretted voting for Trump. Fiqy said he didn’t.
“No, I don't regret my vote because I see politics through a conservative prism, and I still have conservative values and see politics through that lens,” he said. “But I withdraw all connections from the Minnesota GOP for not standing up for the Somali community.”
As for Trump, Fiqy's condemnation went beyond the president's disparaging remarks directed toward Somalians, arguing that the president had also failed to fulfill much of what he promised on the campaign trail.
“He seems not delivering on the promises that he promised the country,” Fiqy said.
The Trump administration has recently launched large-scale ICE operations against Somalis in Minnesota, and has threatened to end Temporary Protected Status for migrants from the African nation.
