President Donald Trump just doubled-down on his offensive statements about Governor Tim Walz and his racist comments about Somali immigrants. According to LGBTQ Nation, the comments were made on the conservative social media platform Truth Social in a Thanksgiving post.
He writes: “Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone. The seriously ret**ded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both.”
In response to the comment, Walz told NBC’s Meet the Press that the comments were not only “damaging” and “hurtful,” but also that they were “Demonizing an entire community, folks who are in the professions, educators, artists, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, they bring the diversity and the energy to a place like Minnesota.”
This past Sunday, a reporter confronted Trump about the comments, saying, “You called Tim Walz what many Americans consider an offensive word. Do you stand by that claim?” to which Trump responded, “Absolutely. You have a problem with it?”
KARE reported that last month that the president pledged to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali people. Somalian refugees have been escaping civil war and arriving in the U.S. since the 1990s; thus, this pledge would affect immigrants who have lived here for decades.
One contributing factor to the amount of Somalian immigrants in the U.S. is due to their strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Somalia is one of the most deadly places to be LGBTQ+, as they fully prohibit same-gender intercourse and attraction, not even allowing queer issues to be discussed in public.
Somalia’s military occupants are additionally known to execute LGBTQ+ citizens, many of whom seek refugee status in the U.S. where, for a while, we did protect LGBTQ+ people.
Trump continues to perpetuate his campaign of anti-immigration laws and mass deportation along with his incessant attack on the queer community, particularly trans people.
Photo courtesy of social media
