OP-ED BY RAY A. JONES, Maamulaha guud

OP-ED BY RAY A. JONES, CEO IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP ’S

COMMENTS COMPARINGS OMALIS TO “GARBAGE” AND OTHER

REPREHENSIBLE STATEMENTS

I write in response to the irresponsible and reprehensible statements made this past week by President Trump in which he compared an entire nation and its’ people to “garbage”. Continuing, Trump specifically said a sitting member of Congress, a child immigrant who legally immigrated to the United States when she was fourteen years of age to escape genocide, ". . . is garbage.” While Trump may have legitimate public policy disagreements with Congresswomen Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, D – Minneapolis, Minn., comparing her to trash is vulgar and unacceptable today in America.

Ours is a nation of immigrants; everyone who now resides in the United States, with the sole exception of the native Indians, are the offspring of immigrants, or immigrants themselves. President Trump’s forefathers were German immigrants; his wife Melania immigrated to the United States from Slovenia. My own mother emigrated from Jamaica, West Indies. Mohamed Abdullahi “Farmajo” Mohamed, a former prime minister and president of Somalia, is himself a dual citizen of the United States and Somalia, having lived in Buffalo, New York after escaping the slaughter and before returning to run the Somali nation, spearheading the effort to restore peace to his native land. Around 260,000 people of Somali descent live in the U.S., according to 2024 statistics from the Census Bureau (the most current available). The largest community of Somali immigrants, some 84,000, is found in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The second largest Somali community, approximately 50,000, is found in Columbus, Ohio. The nation of Somalia experienced a deadly civil war, beginning in the early 1980s in 1980 after Siad Barre took over the country. By 1991 several groups rose to oppose him, and armed conflict broke out as Barre fled to Nigeria. Over time many strongmen attempted to take over as Somalia fell into full-blown civil war.

Dozens of warlords attacked and destroyed communities; entire extended families of parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins were slaughtered. While it is impossible to determine the exact number of dead estimates range from a low of 350,000 to more than one million. The killing continued for more than thirty years. In October 2011 military units from Kenya entered Southern Somali and established a buffer peace zone. Finally, the United Nations and a coalition of nations began eliminating the warlords. Today civil conflict continues but is largely controlled. At the height of the civil war more than 5 million Somalis were rendered homeless. Huge refugee camps were opened in Kenya and Ethiopia. In the early 1992 the United States joined with numerous international refugee agencies to place these dislocated persons. Former President H.W. Bush led the way in agreeing to assist refugees from the Somalian Civil War.

The UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration, organized immigration to numerous countries. Mareykanka. based organizations, relying on international referrals, accepted about 90,000 qaxootiga Soomaaliyeed. These organizations included the International Rescue Committee, the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and Global Refuge. Religious based organizations, including Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services worked with these organizations to sponsor Somali refugees, assisting with housing, food and arranging employment opportunities. 90,000 Somalian refugees legally entered the United States in this fashion. In the ensuing thirty years the Somalian heritage population of the United States has grown by three times as couples married and had children, who are themselves naturalized American citizens.

In doing so they followed the guidance of one of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, who famously believed the United States had a moral duty to offer asylum to those escaping tyranny, asking, “Shall oppressed humanity find no asylum on this globe?” Surely there is no greater tyranny than random slaughter by war lords simply because of the family of which one is a member?

Abraham Lincoln viewed immigrants as crucial to American strength and growth, seeing them as a vital labor source, leading him to sign the first federal act to encourage immigration in 1864; he opposed anti-immigrant groups like the Know-No things , seeing their nativism as hypocritical and a betrayal of American ideals, though he also navigated the complexities of ethnic politics, often favoring German immigrants who voted Republican while recognizing the contributions of all groups. Lincoln championed and signed the Act to Encourage Immigration (1864), establishing the first federal immigration bureau and protecting immigrants from exploitation. He defended immigrants’ rights, including the right to citizenship, and argued they were part of the American fabric, “blood of the blood of the founders”.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously stated, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal,” emphasizing that remaining quiet in the face of injustice is a moral failing, akin to complicity. He stressed that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter,” and that the “silence of our friends” is more damaging than the profound hurt of abandonment by allies in times of struggle. He believed indifferent allows evil to thrive, famously saying. The hottest place in Hell is served for those who remain neutral in time of great moral conflict”.

Institute of Migration Policy statistics show that 89% of working age Somali adults are employed, contributing to the American economy, and paying taxes. United States Census Bureau statistics show that only 8.4% of Somali immigrants to the United States are not American citizens. This means that 92.6% of Somalis living in the United States were either born here or, after immigrating, have taken the time to learn about their adopted home, studied the American system of government, and have successfully taken and passed the naturalization test given by the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They have raised their right hand and have sworn to protect and defend the United States as their own.

Just as President Trump’s German immigrant forefathers once did, and as our First Lady did in recent years. Current estimates of the Census Bureau suggest the population of the United States is 347,275,000. The 260,000 residents of Somalia heritage living in the United States represent 0.00074% of the total population. By comparing any human to garbage, President Trump denigrates and dehumanizes all Americans. It is unbecoming and unacceptable for anyone – especially the President of the United States – to compare anyone to garbage. After all, the President, once elected, must represent and defend ALL Americans, whether born on Park Avenue in New York, or in the most modest apartment in the land. By degrading the most common among us, President Trump dishonors and slanders all of us.