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During a December 9 rally, President Donald Trump devolved into a rant and complained, “We only take people from s***hole countries. Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? … From Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people.”
“But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime,” he said, before insulting democratic representative Ilhan Omar’s hijab, calling it a “little turban.”
- Trump referred to Somali immigrants as coming from 'shithole countries' and insulted Rep. Ilhan Omar's hijab as a 'little turban.'
- ICE agents pulled over Ilhan Omar's son after Trump's rant but released him after checking his passport and paperwork.
- Omar accused ICE of racial profiling and excessive force targeting Somali communities in the Twin Cities.
“She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out. Send her back,” he said.
Trump attacked Rep. Ihan Omar, calling for her to be thrown out of the U.S.
Image credits: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The following weekend, her son was pulled over by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Minnesota Democrat told local station WCCO that ICE agents pulled over her son, but soon released him after reviewing his paperwork.
“Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by [ICE] agents, and once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go,” Omar said.
She said her son “always carries” his passport with him.
Omar added that ICE had previously entered a mosque where her son and others were praying, but left without incident.
Since then, she had to “remind him just how worried I am, because all of these areas that they are talking about are areas where he could possibly find himself in and they are racially profiling, they are looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented.”
Following Trump’s attack on Somalis, ICE agents surged into the Twin Cities on a mission to arrest undocumented Somali immigrants.
Omar sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE acting director Todd Lyons on Friday, accusing federal agents of “blatant racial profiling” and “an egregious level of unnecessary force” in the Twin Cities.
“It is clear to me that this surge came in direct response to Trump’s racist comments about Somali people, and about me in particular,” Omar wrote.
“They [Somalis] contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country…We can go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting on December 2.
ICE then stopped her son to check his papers
Image credits: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
“You told me to look into Minnesota and their fraud on visas and their programs—50% of them are fraudulent, which means that that wacko Governor [Tim] Walz either is an idiot or he did it on purpose,” Noem said during the Cabinet meeting.
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the country, with about 107,000 people, more than 80,000 of them living in the Twin Cities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Omar argued that “over 90% of Somalis in America are U.S. citizens,” citing an American Community Survey.
Omar, who was born in Somalia, came to the U.S. as a child and became a citizen in 2000.
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner wrote in an X post on Sunday, “Yesterday, I stood in solidarity with my fellow Mainers to denounce the vile targeting of the Somali community. We will not tolerate hate in our communities.”
Image credits: Mark Juhn/ Getty Images
Trump campaigned heavily on his promise to conduct mass deportation across the U.S., and touted using law enforcement to crack down on crime and illegal immigration.
While ICE has deported and detained tens of thousands, many affected are individuals with valid visas, granted asylum, and green cards.
The Trump administration has also been working on how to block individuals from gaining the citizenship they qualify for. Citizenship ceremonies are being canceled as people are being pulled out of the line while waiting to take the oath.
Somalis themselves have contributed $8bn to Minnesota’s economy, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.
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