“Squad” Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has once again drawn criticism, this time for appearing to disregard a deadly tragedy in her home state while targeting President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on rioters and illegal immigrants in Los Angeles.
Drawing a comparison between her upbringing in Somalia and life in the U.S., Omar described her adopted country as “one of the worst” in the world, citing the Trump administration’s attempts to restore order in a city the president has labeled “lawless” since riots erupted two weeks ago. Although the deployment of California National Guard troops and U.S. Marines has largely maintained peace since last week, Omar argued that the price to civil liberties is too high.
“I grew up in a dictatorship, and I don’t even remember ever witnessing anything like that,” she claimed on a left-wing news program. “To have a democracy — a beacon of hope for the world — to now be turned into one of the, you know, one of the worst countries where the military are in our streets without any regard for people’s constitutional rights, while our president is spending millions of dollars propping himself up like a failed dictator.”
Trump addressed false Democrat claims that he’s a “dictator” or a “king” last week when he told a reporter he has to “fight like hell to get anything done.” Meanwhile, Omar escaped war-torn Somalia in the 1990s, entering the United States illegally as a child before obtaining asylum and later a green card. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
Her advocacy for illegal immigrants comes just days after Minnesota authorities arrested a deranged gunman who killed one state lawmaker and her husband and critically injured another lawmaker and his wife. Even before the suspect was apprehended, Omar shifted her focus to Israel’s conflict with Iran on social media, signaling her intent to continue criticizing President Trump amid a national tragedy.
“It is shocking and it should be a wake-up call to all Americans to say this is not the country we were born in,” said the Somali-born Omar, whose remarks earned her plenty of derision and scorn on social media.
“I’ll pay for her one way ticket home to Somalia,” one X user wrote. And yet she’s still here,” noted a second, adding a clown emoji face. “Deport her, problem solved,” still another user said.
Calls for deporting Omar have gained traction amid renewed scrutiny. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an investigation into allegations that Omar married her biological brother in the 2000s to help him avoid deportation. Although Omar later divorced him, a source within Minnesota’s Somali community alleges she enlisted a Christian pastor to officiate the marriage because those close to her were aware that the man was her brother.
