MINNEAPOLIS, Dec 5 - Crowds usually press shoulder-to-shoulder at Karmel Mall, a sprawling Somali shopping center in Minneapolis, where people often greet each other by name, speak Somali more than English and gather to browse for new hijabs and shop from hundreds of vendors lining the narrow hallways.

On Wednesday night, however, only a handful of people milled around the mall after U.S. President Donald Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said that "they destroyed our country." City officials say his remarks coincided with a surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis.

Minnesota's Somali community has become an increasingly influential political constituency in the state, with U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar its most high-profile member.

As a fraud investigation churns up convictions of community members, Trump has focused his ire on Omar and other Somalis. A stepped-up deportation campaign in the Twin Cities that began this week has forced some Somali residents into hiding and others to become hypervigilant, often carrying their passports with them out of fear of racial profiling by ICE officers, according to interviews with residents, local officials and immigrant advocates.

'WE'RE NOT TRASH'

“I don't even feel myself because I'm scared everywhere I go. Am I a target? I don't even know. That's very sad,” said Ifrah Farah, a U.S. citizen from Somalia and the owner of a hair salon in Karmel Mall.

“I never did anything wrong; I'm a hard-working mom. We're not trash," she said.     Jamal Osman, a Minneapolis city council member and Somali refugee who immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, said he’s been deluged with calls from constituents asking if it’s safe to venture outside and to get updates on ICE activity, noting that the community now feels like a “war zone.”

"What makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally. Those who are not here illegally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear," said Tricia McLaughlin, assista...