Ilhan Omar remains defiant as Trump and his allies step up attacks on her and Somali Minnesotans

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar says she’s long past feeling shock when President Donald Trump says something negative about her or the Somali people.

But now it’s at a new level. It’s not just words.

Federal immigration agents are pulling her constituents off the streets – even, she has said, stopping her son. She’s also being forced to once again answer years-old, unproven allegations challenging her own immigration journey at a time when the Trump administration has announced it will seek to increase citizenship revocations of naturalized citizens like herself.

“His immigration policy was cruel in his first administration, and now it’s just outright dangerous and severely inhumane,” said Omar in a recent interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune. “It is geared towards this sort of white supremacist view of what America should be.”

And she worries that “we’re not even at the worst yet, that there is probably more to come.”

President Donald Trump recently called Omar and Somali Minnesotans “garbage, who should “go back to where they came from.” And the White House doubled down on the president’s position in response to Omar’s assessment. “President Trump is right. Aliens who come to our country, complain about how much they hate America, fail to contribute to our economy, and refuse to assimilate into our society should not be here,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

Yet, as she has when the glare of the right wing has turned on her in the past, the four-term congresswoman, at least outwardly, carries herself as unfazed, if not defiant, even as she’s faced a significant uptick in threats in recent weeks. A Florida man pleaded guilty earlier this month to threatening to kill her, and Omar acknowledges she sometimes hides the details of the threats from her family, who often worry for her safety.

Omar says Somali Minnesotans have been “preparing for this moment” as the Trump administration has attacked their immigration status. “Somalis don’t need me to tell them much. They’re all natural-born leaders, and have all stepped up,” she said.

In Minnesota, Trump has cited several fraud scandals involving numerous Minnesotans of Somali descent, as well as the longstanding instability of Somalia, as predicates for his decision to try to revoke the Temporary Protected Status of Somalis living in the United States. He’s also ended TPS for ethnic Karen people from Myanmar. Minnesota is home to the largest population of Karen in the country.

Trump’s target on Somali Minnesotans followed an unsubstantiated report that fraudulently obtained state and federal funds have been sent to terrorists and led to Operation Metro Surge, which has resulted in 670 arrests, as well as reports of ICE racially targeting people of East African descent and clashes between federal agents and protesters.

Now in her fourth term, Omar got off to a stormy start in Congress but has shown staying power against challenges from fellow Democrats even as she has faced verbal attacks from multiple prominent Republicans and conservatives, including Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Laura Loomer.

Her fellow Minnesotan, Rep. Tom Emmer, a leading House Republican, called Omar a “racist,” a “duplicitous con artist,” “anti-Semitic” and “hateful” on a Breitbart News podcast this month. In response, Omar labeled Emmer a “foolish buffoon” and a “small man” who wants Trump to notice him.

“I don’t have any worries,” Omar said when asked if she’s concerned the administration could newly elevate the allegation. “I’ve always known that this was based on some stupid blog that was up for a couple hours that went away and they have been in this sort of conspiracy [loop].”

Omar maintains that if there was anything to the rumor “we would have wrapped this up long time ago.” In a 2019 Star Tribune investigation, Omar did not make members of her family available to comment and did not provide tax and immigration records for the report.

Omar said it “soothes” her right-wing critics to believe “there is this great evidence out there that is going to take away my citizenship and send me back to Somalia.”

The day before the interview, the New York Times reported the Trump administration may be looking at ways to denaturalize foreign-born citizens. Omar said she thinks it would be a difficult threshold to meet and ultimately, a waste of taxpayer money.

Omar said she also believes there’s a darker reason for the right’s fixation on the allegation. “There’s also, I think, a really sick undertone in a different kind of fantasy where they think brothers and sisters are engaged in some intimacy.”

Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year in response to protests against immigration raids, prompting a feud between him and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.