WASHINGTON, January 21. /TASS/. The protests in Minnesota indicate that mass migration to Western countries is inadmissible, President Donald Trump said.

"The situation in Minnesota reminds us that the West cannot mass import foreign cultures, which have failed to ever build a successful society of their own. We're taking people from Somalia, and Somalia is not a nation, it’s got no government, got no police, got no military, got no nothing," he said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

According to Trump, the US government is investigating the "$19 billion in fraud that was stolen by Somalian bandits. How do they go into Minnesota and steal all that money. And we have, you know, they're pirates. They're good pirates, right? But we shoot them out of the water, just like we shoot the drug boats out. They're not pirating too many boats lately," he argued. Earlier, in an interview with NewsNation, Trump said there was at least $19 billion of fraud in Minnesota amid opposition from local authorities to the efforts to deport illegal immigrants.

In December 2025, the US Department of Homeland Security launched an anti-illegal immigration operation in Minneapolis, describing it as the US’ largest ever. On January 7, while searching for illegal immigrants, ICE officers demanded that a woman protesting against their actions, who had stopped her car in the middle of the roadway, get out of the vehicle. As the car began to move forward, one of the security officers opened fire on the driver with a service weapon. The woman died from her injuries. After that, large-scale protests began in the city.

Trump had previously said that about 25 million people had illegally entered the country before he came to power. He has also repeatedly spoken out in favor of tightening immigration policy. After the inauguration, he introduced an emergency regime on the border with Mexico, noting that he intends to ensure the largest operation in American history to deport illegal migrants.