Trump calls Somali community ‘pirates,’ prompting shouts from Rep. Ilhan Omar during State of the Union address

President Donald Trump zoomed in on Minnesota’s Somali community during his Tuesday night State of the Union address, calling them “pirates” who have “ransacked Minnesota” and cited an unproven claim that members have carried out $19 billion in fraud.

His remarks prompted sharp rebuke from Somali American Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who called him a “liar.”

“When it comes to the corruption that is ... plundering America, there has been no more stunning example than Minnesota — where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion dollars from the American taxpayer," Trump said.

“That’s a lie ... you’re lying,” Omar shouted back in response to Trump’s claim.

Prosecutors say stolen funds, which they say was the result of decades of poor oversight, could total $9 billion, though the Minnesota Star Tribune has found that alleged fraud uncovered so far in some state programs is closer to $200 million.

Trump also called Somali Minnesotans “pirates who ransacked Minnesota” and who reminded the country that “there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception.”

Trump said Vice President JD Vance would lead the administration’s “war on fraud.”

Nearly all Somalis in Minnesota are citizens or legal residents.

Trump called on lawmakers to “end deadly sanctuary cities that protect the criminals and enact serious penalties for public officials who block the removal of criminal aliens.”

In response to one of his remarks, Omar yelled out: “You have killed Americans,” alluding to federal agents fatally shooting Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

All but one of Minnesota’s six congressional Democrats attended Trump’s State of the Union. All four of Minnesota’s congressional Republicans attended. Omar, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Reps. Angie Craig, Kelly Morrison and Betty McCollum remained seated for most of Trump’s speech as Republicans stood up to cheer on his remarks. Sen. Tina Smith did not attend and instead spoke at a counter-rally on the National Mall.

But the five Democrats made an exception to stand and cheer when the Olympic men’s hockey team entered the House chamber.

Trump’s immigration crackdown on Minnesota was widely unpopular according to recent polling, and Democratic lawmakers have remained skeptical about its wind-down.

While the president’s speech did not specifically call out the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, in the Democratic rebuttal to his address Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger more directly referenced the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s surge in the state.

“Our president has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans and they have done it without a warrant,” Spanberger said. “They have ripped nursing mothers away from their babies. They have sent children, a little boy in a blue bunny hat … to far-off detention centers and they have killed American citizens in our streets. And they have done it all with their faces masked from accountability.”

Spanberger was referencing Columbia Heights preschooler Liam Conejo Ramos who was taken into custody with his father in January by federal agents and sent to a Texas detention center before being released.