Ilhan Omar says Trump’s anti-Somali tirade ‘completely disgusting’ | Ilhan Omar
U.S. House of Representatives member Ilhan Omar defended the Somali community in her Minnesota congressional district on Sunday, saying it was “completely disgusting” that Donald Trump recently referred to them as trash.
“These are the Americans he calls ‘trash,'” says Omar, a Somali-born Democrat. in question while responding to the president’s remarks on CBS’s Face the Nation. “I think it’s also really important for us to remember that this kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanization can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president.”
These comments by Omar, who spent part of her CBS interview discussing fraud cases involving Minnesota Somalis in recent years, were used in response to Trump’s insults at the cabinet meeting. In addition to calling them “garbage,” the president also said Minnesota’s Somali community should be sent back to Somalia.
Trump also said, “Look at their nation.” “Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people running around killing each other.”
“Look, these Somalis have taken billions and billions of dollars from our country.”
The Trump administration has restricted all immigration for Somalis already in the United States and people from 18 other countries. Community members expected enforcement operations against immigrants to increase in the Minneapolis-St Paul metropolitan area, where most of the state’s Somalis reside. And as a result, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey recently signed an agreement. executive order Prohibiting federal, state, and local authorities from using municipal parking lots, ramps, garages, and grounds for immigration enforcement operations.
On Thursday, Omar wrote: column The New York Times claimed that Trump resorted to racist attacks after failing to deliver on various campaign promises, including a better US economy.
“While the president spends his time attacking my community… the promises of economic prosperity he made during his presidential run [in 2024] “The president knows he has failed, so he is going back to what he knows best: trying to deflect attention by fueling bigotry,” Omar wrote in the Times.
Interest in Minnesota’s Somali community has increased in recent weeks as the right wing seizes on fraud cases in the state. Dozens of Somalis were convicted in a scheme that involved lying to the government to get reimbursed for food payments, medical care and other services. Investigations into a number of fraud schemes took years; One of the most significant cases was the charges filed three years ago.
One case involves an organization called Feeding Our Future, which partners with government agencies to distribute meals to children. Federal prosecutors alleged that the organization submitted false documents to deceive government officials into thinking they were distributing meals to thousands of children during the Covid-19 pandemic. Founder of the group prisoner In March. U.S. House Republicans have since launched an investigation aimed at how fraud cases were handled by Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, who was his party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election won by Trump.
Omar said Sunday that she was among the first members of Congress to call for an investigation into the fraud. He also said the fraud was “reprehensible.”
Omar also denied the Trump administration’s allegations that taxpayer money involved in fraud investigations in Minnesota was funneled to a terrorist organization in Somalia.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in question His department was investigating whether taxpayer money was going to the terrorist organization Al Shabaab in Somalia. House Republicans echoed those claims.
“There are people being tried and punished,” Omar said. “If there is a connection to this — the money they stole going to terrorism — then this is a failure on the part of the FBI and our court system to not be able to figure this out and basically indict them on these charges.”
Bessent also said those involved in the scam donated to Omar’s campaign. “We sent that money back a few years ago,” Omar said Sunday.
