What exact words did Trump use about Somali communities and who reported them?
Executive summary
President Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said he did not want Somalis in the United States during remarks at a White House cabinet meeting and in subsequent public remarks; multiple outlets attribute the exact language to reporting based on the meeting and live remarks [1] [2] [3]. Major news organizations that recorded and reported his words include The New York Times, Reuters, AP, BBC, The Guardian, Politico, CNN, PBS and Fox News [4] [5] [1] [2] [3] [6] [7] [8] [9].
1. What words were reported — the core quotes and context
Reporters across outlets quoted Trump saying Somali immigrants were “garbage,” that he “didn’t want them in our country,” and phrases such as “go back to where they came from,” and that Somalia is “considered by many to be the worst country on earth,” remarks presented as coming during a cabinet meeting and follow-up Oval Office comments [1] [2] [6] [3]. Some outlets published longer verbatim passages: PBS and Reuters transcribed lines including “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage” and broader demeaning language about Somalis “do[ing] nothing but complain” and “destroyed our country” [8] [10].
2. Who reported these words — the outlets and how they framed attribution
The Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times and BBC all reported the “garbage” line and framed it as coming from Trump’s remarks at the White House; The Guardian and Politico similarly published accounts attributing the language to the cabinet meeting and to his remarks to reporters [1] [5] [4] [2] [3] [6]. CNN and PBS covered the community impact and included the quotations in context of an ICE enforcement sweep; Fox News also reported the language while stressing administration rationales and quoting DHS sources disputing race-based prosecutions [7] [8] [9].
3. Differences in reporting and emphasis among outlets
Mainstream wire services (AP, Reuters) and outlets such as The New York Times and BBC emphasized the dehumanizing nature of the language and linked it directly to White House events and subsequent enforcement actions [1] [5] [4] [2]. The Guardian and PBS foregrounded the remarks as part of a broader “rant” and community reaction, while Fox News highlighted the administration’s policy case and cited DHS officials stressing immigration-status, not race, as the enforcement basis [3] [8] [9]. Right-leaning outlets like The Daily Caller republished or paraphrased the comments but framed them amid claims about fraud and enforcement, showing differing editorial interpretations [11].
4. Corroboration, sourcing and limits of public transcripts
AP, Reuters and other outlets reported the words as spoken at the cabinet meeting and in comments to reporters; PBS and Reuters provided direct quoted lines, suggesting reporters had access to either live remarks, pool reporting, or post-meeting briefings [8] [5]. Available sources do not publish a full, official verbatim White House transcript in the files provided here; outlets relied on reporting from the meeting, press interactions, and social-media posts to reconstruct quotes [1] [4]. That limitation means exact punctuation and every turn of phrase can vary slightly between reports.
5. How officials and the White House responded and how reporting noted that
White House spokespeople and allied officials framed the remarks as grounded in concerns over fraud and public safety; a White House spokeswoman said the president was “right to highlight problems caused by ‘radical Somali migrants,’” which some outlets quoted as the administration’s defense [5]. Other administration figures — such as Border czar Tom Homan — publicly defended the targeting while criticizing critics, as reported by Politico [6]. Republican silence and internal cheer were also noted by Reuters [5].
6. Community impact and competing narratives
Reporting documented fear and anger in Minneapolis’s large Somali community, noting reduced foot traffic in Somali neighborhoods and people worrying they are targets as ICE activity increased — coverage by CNN, Reuters, BBC and PBS centers the human consequences of the language [7] [10] [2] [8]. The administration and some conservative outlets frame the statements as part of law-enforcement and fraud-fighting measures; critics call the remarks racist and dehumanizing, a point emphasized across liberal and centrist outlets [9] [3].
7. What reporting does not claim or prove
Available sources do not include an official, complete verbatim White House transcript provided here to independently verify every reported phrase; instead, journalists cited pool reports, direct press interactions and published transcriptions [1] [4]. Sources in this packet do not present administration internal memos proving intent beyond quoted defenses and subsequent remarks [5] [6].
Summary: Multiple major news organizations reported that President Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage,” attributed to remarks at a cabinet meeting and to follow-up comments; outlets varied in emphasis — from direct transcription and condemnation to contextual defense tied to fraud and enforcement — and reporting relied on meeting coverage and press exchanges rather than a single published official transcript [1] [5] [4] [3].