华盛顿，10月8日——周四，唐纳德·特朗普总统发表了一系列反索马里人、反穆斯林的言论，将索马里裔美国人社区描绘成对明尼苏达州的威胁。就在几小时前，他还将竞选美国参议院议员的穆斯林候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德称为“极端激进分子”。
WASHINGTON, Oct 8 - In a burst of anti-Somali and anti-Muslim rhetoric, President Donald Trump cast the Somali American community as a threat to Minnesota on Thursday, hours after he labeled Muslim US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a radical extremist. "The once Great State of Minnesota is being taken over by Somali Immigrants.
“曾经繁荣昌盛的明尼苏达州如今正被索马里移民所掌控。全州范围内暴力、谋杀与混乱频发。明尼苏达州的民众必须奋起反抗，”特朗普在其“Truth Social”社交平台上写道。特朗普还敦促明尼苏达州当局请求联邦政府介入干预。
There is Violence, Murder, and Mayhem all over the State. The people of Minnesota must fight back," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Trump urged authorities in Minnesota to ask for federal intervention.
民权倡导人士批评这位共和党总统针对少数族裔和移民的言论；此前他曾称索马里人为“垃圾”。特朗普还多次提及一起发生于2020年的明尼苏达州丑闻：数十人被指控从一项由联邦政府资助的州立儿童营养计划中骗取数百万美元。此案的众多被告均为索马里裔美国人。
Civil rights advocates have criticized the Republican president's rhetoric towards minorities and immigrants, including when he previously called Somalis "garbage." Trump has in the past repeatedly invoked a scandal in Minnesota that dates to 2020 in which scores of people were accused of defrauding millions of dollars from a state-run, federally funded child nutrition program. Many of the defendants in that case were Somali Americans.
今年5月，艾米·博克因被认定是该诈骗计划的主谋而被判41年监禁。她并非索马里移民，曾领导一家卷入该丑闻的明尼苏达州非营利组织。
In May, Aimee Bock, who is not a Somali immigrant and led the Minnesota non-profit group involved in the scandal, was sentenced to 41 years in prison after she was convicted last year of being the ringleader of the scheme.
特朗普以这起诈骗案为由，今年早些时候下令对由民主党人执掌的明尼苏达州采取严厉措施：大量逮捕并驱逐非法移民，同时限制包括医疗保险和儿童保育服务在内的多项社会福利项目。
The president has used the fraud case as part of his rationale for targeting Minnesota, led by Democrats, for an aggressive surge in arresting and deporting immigrants earlier this year and for moves aimed at restricting social service programs in the state, including Medicare and childcare.
人权组织指责特朗普以个别诈骗案件为借口来针对整个移民群体，并批评其处理诈骗问题的双重标准——毕竟他曾赦免过多名被判犯有诈骗罪的人员。
Rights groups have accused Trump of using isolated fraud cases as an excuse to collectively target immigrant communities and criticized his approach to fraud, citing his pardons of those who have faced fraud convictions.
“索马里裔明尼苏达人是我们的邻居，他们也是明尼苏达州的一份子。我所熟悉且热爱的明尼苏达州绝不该出现这种偏见与仇恨，”明尼苏达州总检察长基思·埃里森在回应特朗普的帖子时说道。
"Somali Minnesotans are our neighbors. They are part of Minnesota. And the Minnesota I know and love is so much better than this bigotry," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in response to Trump's post.
在周三晚些时候的另一条帖文中，特朗普称身为穆斯林、代表民主党竞选密歇根州联邦参议员的埃尔-赛义德为“极端激进分子”和“恐怖分子同情者”，同时表示支持共和党候选人迈克·罗杰斯。
In another post late on Wednesday, Trump called El-Sayed, a Muslim and the Democratic candidate for US Senate from Michigan, a "RADICAL Extremist" and "Terrorist Sympathizer" while offering support for the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers.
民主党人士指出，在11月美国中期选举临近之际，特朗普的此类言论意在转移选民对其政策负面影响的注意力。
Democrats said Trump's rhetoric sought to distract voters from the impact of his policies heading into the November US midterm elections.
“他以为能利用我的名字和宗教信仰来转移大家的视线，让我们忽视其政策给我们在油价、食品价格以及医疗费用方面带来的痛苦，”曾遭到其他共和党人针对穆斯林的攻击的埃尔-赛义德于周四说道。
"He thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor's office," El-Sayed, who has faced anti-Muslim attacks from other Republicans, said on Thursday.
密歇根州民主党以及参议院民主党领袖查克·舒默均认为，特朗普的言论既绝望又带有种族主义色彩。
The Michigan Democratic Party and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer cast Trump's rhetoric as desperate and racist.
此前特朗普也曾在言论中针对少数族裔：他曾散布虚假信息称俄亥俄州某镇的海地移民在食用宠物，还曾将“巴勒斯坦人”一词用作侮辱性用语。
Trump has targeted minorities in his rhetoric in the past as well, having previously spread false claims that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio town were eating pets and having used the term "Palestinian" as an insult.