President Trump orders green card review after DC shootings
A day after two National Guard members were shot near the White House, President Donald Trump announced a review of green card holders.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized President Donald Trump for using a slur to characterize the state’s Somali immigrant and diaspora communities in a Thanksgiving social media post on Nov. 27.
Walz appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Nov. 30 and called President Trump’s use of the “R-word,” which he used to insult Democratic governors and 2024 vice presidential candidates, “harmful.”
“This is what Donald Trump has done. He has normalized this type of hateful behavior and this type of language,” Walz said of Trump’s social media posts. “Firstly, I think it’s because he’s just not a good person. But secondly, it’s to distract from his incompetence.”
The word was introduced as a medical term in 1961, but has evolved over the decades to become a slur used to denigrate people with and without disabilities. The president’s post sparked a backlash, with disability advocates calling for an end to its use.
Walz told NBC that “kids know better” than to use the word, criticizing attempts to dispel the outrage as a “woke” by the language police.
“A lot of times it’s about being civil to people and making them feel included,” Walz said of efforts to avoid slurs and other discriminatory types of language. “You can use that word. Sure, you can use that word, but you shouldn’t. And that’s what Donald Trump doesn’t realize.”
Walz also accused President Trump’s Thanksgiving social media posts of demonizing the Somali community, the largest in the United States. The president made other statements about Somalis, including falsely saying, “Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are taking over the once-great state of Minnesota.”
“It brings diversity and energy to a place like Minnesota, and it doesn’t make sense that he just decided to do this out of nowhere,” Walz said of the posts. “Do your job. Drive out criminals and secure our borders. But do it with dignity and respect for America’s tradition of honoring immigrants and refugees as beacons of hope.”
President Trump has ordered federal immigration officials to reexamine green cards issued to people from 19 countries deemed “high risk,” including Somalia. The move expands on the administration’s controversial immigration crackdown and comes days after a suspected Afghan gunman shot and killed two National Guardsmen.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml.
