Rep. Tom Emmer says Somalis should 'go the hell back to where they came from'

Sydney Kashiwagi, Star Tribune on Jun 26, 2026

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Rep. Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House, once again disparaged Somalis this week in one of his most forceful ways yet, declaring they are a culture that does not assimilate and that they should “go the hell back to where they came from” if they do not do so.

The Minnesota Republican's remarks echo those of President Donald Trump, who late last year said Somalis “contribute nothing” and should “go back to their country,” something the state’s highest-ranking Republican politician did not condemn.

“Minnesotans are so afraid that you’re gonna call us ‘a racist,’ you’re gonna call us ‘an Islamophobe,’ you’re going to call us some name, that we just don’t want to get into that fight,” Emmer said during a Faith & Freedom Coalition event Thursday. “You know what? I would argue that I never did care, but I’m done being careful, even the least bit careful.”

“They don’t assimilate,” he continued. “And if they don’t assimilate, then they should go the hell back to where they came from.”

Emmer’s remarks come as Minnesota’s Somali community has been repeatedly singled out amid the state’s fraud crisis. Many defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme were of Somali descent.

As the attacks from Trump and other Republicans were ramping up last fall, Emmer initially said he did not “want to paint with a broad brush” after Trump pledged to revoke temporary protected status from hundreds of members of the Somali community.

“There are great Somali residents in Minnesota. I’ve got Somalis for Trump in St. Cloud, Minnesota,” the congressman from Delano said during a recent KARE 11 interview. “The fact remains, though, that a lot of these fraud schemes have come out of that community, and that’s what (Trump’s) talking about.”

Emmer later falsely claimed that 80% of the crimes being committed in the Twin Cities were being committed by Somalis.

Emmer’s characterization of Somalis over the last year is a stark contrast from his relationship with a relatively large voting bloc in his district, which he spent years making inroads with during his first years in office.

Before Trump was elected, the first-term Republican congressman defended Somalis against community pushback in St. Cloud. Emmer argued that as long as they moved into the community legally, “You don’t get to slam the gate behind you and tell nobody else that they’re welcome.”

But a decade later and now one of the most powerful Republicans in the country, Emmer was one of the chief defenders of Trump’s crackdown on Minnesota’s Somali community during Operation Metro Surge.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota’s highest-ranking Somali politician, whom Emmer and Trump frequently denounce, shot back at the congressman’s remarks.

“I assimilated all the way to Congress and this idiot still tells me to go back where I came from,” Omar said on X, urging her followers to support Emmer’s Democratic opponent, Doug Chapin, in the midterms.

Gov. Tim Walz also condemned Emmer’s remarks on social media.

“Imagine flushing your reputation down the toilet for the privilege of being Donald Trump’s skin tag,” Walz said.

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