He threatened to deport US citizens of Somali heritage and rediscover the "native spirit" of America, threatened to arrest a sitting Congresswoman, and made a hugely distasteful claim about the circumstances of Renee Good's killing
20:53, 13 Jan 2026
Donald Trump branded anti-ICE protests in Minnesota "fake riots", aired a crass and evidence-free theory about the people involved, and spouted a racist slogan during a lengthy, unhinged speech in Detroit.
Just days after Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE agent on the streets of Minneapolis, Trump claimed anyone protesting against his anti immigrant thug squad must be "practiced" and fake. And for the second time, he referenced seeing a woman in a video of the aftermath of the tragic killing, shouting "shame, shame, shame" at the agent who shot her.
On Friday he claimed the woman in the video was "not normal" and a "professional troublemaker". And today he went further.
"One of the reasons they're doing these fake riots," he said in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club. "I mean they're just terrible. It's so fake. 'Shame! Shame! Shame!' You see the woman. It's all practiced. They take hotel rooms and they all practice together. It's a whole scam. We're finding out who's funding all this stuff too."
He also seemed to threaten a sitting member of the House of Representatives - Ilhan Omar - with imprisonment in a racist attack on the Minnesota Congresswoman.
"We intend to imprison any fraudster politician or public official involved in these sick plots to loot and pillage our country," he said. "Think of that, Ilhan Omar. She lives in Somalia. They don't have a government, they don't have a military, they don't have police, they don't have anything. All they have is murder and robbing ships."
There is no evidence Ms Omar is involved with or aware of fraud in Minnesota. He went on: "She comes from a country with nothing, and she comes here and she tells us about our Constitution." Putting on a mock impression of Ms Omar's voice, he said: "I have a constitutional right to rip off the country."
"I guess she's she's a total scam artist," he added. "Anybody knows it. How do you let her get away with it...they're all scammers, they're so bad for our country."
Elsewhere in the speech, Trump threatened to strip anyone originally from Somalia who is convicted of fraud of their US citizenship - which would be illegal under US law. Citizenship can only be revoked under very limited circumstances, and only over crimes that relate directly to their citizenship status. "If you come to America to rob Americans, we're throwing you in jail and we're sending you back to the country from where you came," he said.
And after a week where several US government departments were slammed for using white supremacist-coded messages in their social media, Trump made a pointed remark about America deporting Somalis and returning to its "native spirit".
He said: "As we liberate our country from this cultural scourge and the plague of corruption and fraud, we will rediscover the natural energy and native spirit that truly makes America great again."
"We're getting them out, we're getting them out," he said. "And we're not going to pay them. We're not going to pay Minnesota any more money...for any of that crap." He went on to suggest he was cutting off all funding for so-called "Sanctuary Cities" - where officials are not allowed to ask people using public services about their immigration status. "Because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens," Trump said. "It brings fraud, crime, all of the other problems that come. So we're not making any payment to anybody that supports Sanctuary Cities."