The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it has arrested at least a dozen noncitizens with criminal histories — including “child sex offenders, domestic abusers, and violent gang members” — as part of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) latest list of what it calls the “worst of the worst” includes five Somali nationals, six from Mexico and one from El Salvador.
“Sanctuary policies and politicians like Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey allowed these pedophiles, domestic terrorists, and gang members to roam the streets and terrorize Americans,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
“ICE law enforcement are risking their lives to protect Minnesotans while their own elected officials sit by and do nothing. No matter when and where, ICE will find, arrest, and deport ALL criminal illegal aliens,” she added.
Among those arrested is Abdulkadir Sharif Abdi, a Somali national who DHS says “was a former member of the Gangster Disciples and is a known current member of Vice Lord Nation” gang.
“He has also been convicted of fraud, receiving stolen property, receiving a stolen vehicle, vehicle theft, and multiple probation violations,” DHS said.
Two other Somali nationals, Sahal Osman Shidane and Mukthar Mohamed Ali, were also taken into custody. DHS says Shidane was convicted of “criminal sexual conduct with a minor aged 13–15,” while Ali has been convicted of “assault, fraud, robbery, and larceny.”
Two Mexican nationals arrested during the operation, which began on Dec. 1, have been convicted of felony smuggling of migrants and aggravated assault with a weapon, according to DHS.
Separately, the Justice Department announced federal charges Thursday against a convicted sex offender in Minnesota who allegedly kidnapped and raped a woman he met on Snapchat in September.
Abdimahat Bille Mohamed, 28, had been sentenced in May in two unrelated sexual assault cases, but under a plea deal, a judge allowed him to avoid prison time.
“This Somali national in Minnesota is charged with raping a minor and multiple adult women before being detained only to be quickly released by a local court, after which he committed yet another rape. This horrific case illustrates how left-wing soft-on-crime policies and vetting failures put innocent people at dire risk,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “If Minnesota will not protect its own people, the Department of Justice will do it for them.”
Bondi said during an appearance Friday on “Fox & Friends” that more legal action is expected. “I can tell you, there are more charges to come,” she said. “And again, this is good police work. They took his DNA, ran his DNA through databases for all these unsolved rapes. So let’s wait and see how many charges come after that.”
President Donald Trump, speaking during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, called Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., “garbage,” accusing her and Somali migrants in the U.S. of coming into the country and offering nothing but complaints.
In response, Omar said the president’s “obsession with me is creepy.”
“I hope he gets the help he desperately needs,” she wrote on X.
She later added that Somali Americans are deeply committed to the United States: “The president fails to realize how deeply Somali Americans love this country. We are doctors, teachers, and elected leaders working to make our country better. We will not let Trump intimidate or debilitate us.”
