Adam Abdullah was living and working legally in Minnesota when federal agents stopped him in St. Paul in December. Months later, immigration authorities transferred him to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This photo was taken July 25, 2025, after he checked in with ICE. Courtesy photo
Adam Abdullah, a Somali national arrested in St. Paul, is now being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, despite having no criminal record and legal authorization to live and work in the United States.
- Advertisement -
The 31-year-old is being detained at a military facility established for terrorism suspects.
Abdullah had 10 minutes to speak with MPR News by telephone from Guantanamo on Tuesday. He used the brief call to describe the Dec. 12 traffic stop that began his detention, part of what the Trump administration called Operation Metro Surge.
“When they come to me, and I ask them why you pulled me over, they say, ‘We are immigration, so give me your work permit,’” Abdullah said. “And I asked them, ‘Do you have a warrant, and what’s the reason to pull me over?’ And they say, ‘We don’t need a warrant; we are immigration, and we know you are Adam Abdullah.’”
Abdullah said officials never told him why he had been singled out. He arrived in the United States as an asylum seeker in 2023, later received a work permit and Social Security number, and supported himself as an auto mechanic. He also appeared routinely for ICE check-ins.
During the past nine months, authorities transferred Abdullah from the Freeborn County Jail in Albert Lea, Minn., to a detention facility in Covington, Ky., and then to Louisiana. Immigration officials eventually told him he would be returned to Somalia through Miami.
“From Miami they say OK we go to Somalia, but first we go to Cuba for refueling then we go to some other countries to Somalia,” Abdullah said.
He said his wrists and ankles remained shackled during the hours-long flights. But instead of continuing to Somalia, he was taken to Guantanamo Bay’s Camp Six, where he has spent roughly two weeks.
Abdullah said detainees have limited access to telephone calls and few opportunities to exercise, though they can talk with one another.
“During the day we have a few hours together,” he said.
He said eight people from Somalia are being held at Guantanamo Bay, including several who were arrested in the Twin Cities.
Immigration attorney Marc Prokosch said Abdullah is the first Guantanamo detainee he has represented, a circumstance that has complicated the case.
“Calls are limited to five to 10 minutes, and we don’t even know if they’re confidential,” Prokosch said. “And that’s the only way that we can communicate with our clients is through these phone calls that may or may not be under attorney-client confidentiality.”
Yumna Rizvi, a policy analyst with the Center for Victims of Torture, said the government began transferring immigration detainees to Guantanamo early last year under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
“This administration wants to conflate this threat of immigration with terrorism, so wants to create this idea that the individuals at Camp 6 are so terrible and so horrific,” Rizvi said.
The ACLU has sued to block the transfers. Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney, maintains that the government lacks legal authority to detain immigrants overseas.
“The facts have shown that this is far from a refueling stop, that people are being held there for weeks, not months, and also under horrible conditions,” Gelernt said.
A federal judge in Washington has allowed the lawsuit to move forward and scheduled a hearing for Oct. 14.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said a recent flight to Guantanamo Bay carried “some of the worst of the worst” “criminal illegal aliens.”
The department did not respond to MPR News questions about the number of detainees held at Guantanamo or why Abdullah was arrested. A search of Minnesota court records found only two parking tickets issued to Abdullah in early 2025 for failing to move his vehicle during snow emergencies.
