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Ben Stiller Clashes With Commander-In-Chief Over ‘Garbage’ Somalis Remark

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Ben Stiller
Photo Credit: "In Conversation with Ben Stiller" by Montclair Film is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Hollywood actor Ben Stiller publicly rebuked Donald Trump after the president describe Somali immigrants in Minnesota as “garbage,” remarks that quickly drew national controversy amid an ongoing fraud scandal involving members of the state’s Somali community.

The “Zoolander” star took to X with a pointed message defending Somali immigrants after Trump’s comments.

“Somalis are not garbage. Immigrants and refugees from anywhere are people like you and me,” he wrote, adding that the United States has long been shaped by newcomers from around the world.

“They should not be demonized. This country is built on the backs of people who have come from other places. It’s what our country is all about.”

The actor’s remarks came shortly after Trump criticized Somali migrants in the wake of allegations that individuals in the community siphoned large sums of taxpayer money from state and federal programs.

“You know, our country’s at a tipping point. We could go bad. We’re at a tipping point. I don’t know if people mind me saying that, but I’m saying it,” Trump remarked on Tuesday.

“We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

Minnesota officials have spent months unraveling a massive Medicaid autism‑care scandal that federal investigators say involved millions of dollars being diverted overseas, including to Somalia and terrorist organizations operating there.

The controversy follows years of scrutiny surrounding the Feeding Our Future scheme, a sweeping fraud operation that federal prosecutors allege misused at least $1.1 billion in pandemic‑era funds meant to feed low‑income children.

The Department of Justice has already announced dozens of arrests tied to that investigation, describing the scam as one of the largest pandemic‑related fraud cases in the nation.

Trump, who has previously vowed to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali nationals and has limited immigration from several countries pending vetting procedures, tied the scandals to concerns about migration and assimilation.

During a tense Cabinet meeting this week, he argued that migrants from Somalia should return home to take responsibility for their country’s future.

“When they come from hell, and they complain and do nothing but bit** — we don’t want them in our country. Let ’em go back to where they came from and fix it,” he added.

His statements were met with immediate backlash from Minnesota officials, immigrant advocates, and political opponents.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) condemned the comments as unacceptable, calling them “unprecedented for a United States president” and warning that they could harm thousands of school‑aged Somali American children in his state.

“We’ve got little children going to school today who their president called them garbage,” Walz said.

Walz argued that demonizing an entire community was both reckless and counterproductive, especially as Minnesota attempts to balance fraud accountability with respecting the state’s diverse population.

He added that Somali Americans contribute significantly to the cultural and economic life of Minnesota and should not be collectively punished for the actions of a small group.

Former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty also criticized the “garbage” remark but acknowledged the seriousness of the fraud investigations.

Appearing on NewsNation Live, Pawlenty insisted that “the full force of the law should come down” on anyone found guilty of misusing public funds, but stressed that “we shouldn’t stigmatize whole groups.”

He warned against targeting people on the basis of race, religion, or national origin, calling the language “dangerous.”

“I don’t think we want to start having those kinds of words applied to whole groups,” the former governor commented.

Meanwhile, additional reporting in The New York Times suggested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was preparing a heightened enforcement operation across the Twin Cities.

The report fueled speculation that federal agents were preparing to target undocumented individuals within Minnesota’s Somali community, although the scope of the operation remain unclear.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, who Trump also referred to as “garbage,” dismissed the idea that significant numbers of undocumented Somali immigrants reside in Minnesota.

She argued that almost all Somali arrivals to the state entered legally under refugee programs and quickly obtained permanent residency and citizenship.

“We don’t really have a lot of people who are undocumented,” she claimed, explaining that most members of the community acquire green cards within a year and citizenship within five years.

Omar said ICE agents were “making fools of themselves trying to find a noncitizen.”

In a separate television appearance on “The Joy Reid Show,” Omar asserted that Somali Americans are fully protected under the Constitution.

“I know that those of us that are Somali in this country see ourselves as Americans. That’s what our passport says, that’s what our nationality is. And we know that we are protected by the 14th Amendment. We know that we are not going anywhere,” she noted.

She went on to criticize Trump personally, calling him “a bigoted fool making a mockery of the White House, of our nation and of the presidency.”

Federal prosecutors continue pursuing cases involving more than $1 billion in suspected fraud tied to both state and federal social‑services programs, ranging from food assistance to autism therapy services.

Authorities say 59 people have already been convicted across various investigations involving pandemic feeding programs, rental assistance, and medical billing schemes.

During an interview on CNN’s The Lead, host Jake Tapper pressed Omar to explain how the alleged misconduct spread so widely in her home state.

Omar suggested that federal and state agencies were unprepared for the scale of the emergency programs launched during the pandemic.

“When you have these kind of new programs that are designed to help people, you’re oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate,” she defended.

Many watchdog provisions, she argued, were never fully implemented because the programs were created so quickly.

“I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up — they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created,” Omar remarked.

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