A Vermont school district has ignited a firestorm after raising the flag of Somalia on public property, a move officials framed as a gesture of “solidarity” with Somalis against President Donald Trump.
However, critics blasted the move as inappropriate, un-American, and politically charged.
The Winooski School District hoisted the foreign flag just days after Trump criticized refugee programs while addressing widespread multimillion-dollar welfare fraud involving Somali networks in Minnesota.
“We’re gonna go the wrong way if we keep taking garbage into our country,” Trump said last week.
“They have destroyed Minnesota.”
District leaders said the flag display was meant to show “solidarity” with Somali migrants living in the community.
WATCH:
🚨 BREAKING: Infuriating move as Winooski School District in Vermont is raising the Somalian flag, betraying America
WE WERE INVADED!
This evil force must be repelled before it’s too late.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 8, 2025
Instead, it set off immediate backlash online, particularly on X, where users accused the school of misusing public property to promote a non-U.S. flag.
One X user urged followers to take action, posting: “Contact them,” with a link to the school district’s website.
Others were more blunt.
“Cut 100% of any funding,” wrote one critic identified as Terry K.
“And prosecute the enemy for raising a foreign flag with our tax dollars.”
Another user, “ThePolishDrunk,” called the move “Absolutely un-American and shameful!”
“This BS has to stop,” added Max Creel in a separate reaction.
Local Officials Defend Flag Display
Interim Winooski Mayor Thomas Renner condemned the online criticism and said Trump’s remarks, combined with the backlash, were making immigrant residents fearful.
“When you have these people who are integral members of the community, all of a sudden thinking they shouldn’t be a part of the community or out and about as much, it really hurts everyone,” Renner said.
Since the late 1990s, Somali refugees have been resettled across Vermont, with roughly 600 arriving in Chittenden County alone since 2003.
Advocacy groups insist these families are part of the local workforce and school community.
Nathan Virag of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont argued that Trump’s comments, coupled with criticism of the flag, discourage refugee families from integrating further.
“If the government was concerned, they were not trying to integrate; this is a way to prevent them from trying to integrate further,” Virag said.
However, critics argue that migrants showing more loyalty to their home nation rather than America is causing them to become more isolated.
Symbolism at the Center of the Controversy
For critics, the central issue was not immigration or the Somali community itself, but whether American schools should raise any flag other than the U.S. flag with taxpayer support.
While progressive activists and city officials defended the symbolism as inclusive, many residents and online commenters said the district crossed a line by elevating a foreign national banner on a public pole.
The flag remained flying as of the district’s last public update.
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