Dec 2 - Officials in Minneapolis on Tuesday said they were not aware of imminent federal immigration raids targeting the area’s Somali community, which has come under blistering attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump in recent days. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, responding to a report in the New York Times that upward of 100 federal immigration agents were poised to descend on his city and neighboring St. Paul to target undocumented Somali residents, said regardless of whether raids were coming, the Somali community would be supported in every way possible by local authorities. 

Frey, a Democrat, said local police would not work with federal agents on any immigration matters, and he strongly criticized Trump’s recent attacks on the Somali community, including on Tuesday when the president called them “garbage” and said “we don’t want them in our country.” 

The president has increased his attacks on Somalis in the U.S. since last week's shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, a shooting that killed on of the troops and for which an Afghan national has been charged. 

“To villainize an entire group is ridiculous under any circumstances,” Frey said. 

Anti-immigration rhetoric was a major part of Trump's campaign and since taking office in January he has overseen an aggressive campaign by masked federal agents across the country that has instilled fear in immigrant communities and prompted protests and backlashes in the cities targeted. 

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, did not confirm raids were imminent in Minneapolis, but said agents were enforcing immigration laws across the country every day. 

About 80,000 Somalis live in Minnesota, mostly in the Twin Cities metro region. Frey said the community had been an economic and cultural boon to the area and had been living in the U.S. for several decades. The vast majority of Somalis in the U.S., Frey said, are American citizens, and he said he’s convinced any immigration action would ensnare people in the country...