Ilhan Omar says son pulled over by ICE agents amid Trump's crackdown
- Ani
- 1 hour ago
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Rep. Ilhan Omar said her son was pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota and asked to provide proof of citizenship.
The Democratic representative from Minnesota, a Somali American, recounted the incident in an interview with a Minnesota CBS affiliate, WCCO, on Dec. 14.
"Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by ICE agents," Omar said. "Once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go."
Omar said her son, who was born in the U.S., always carries his passport with him.
In December, immigration agents converged on Minnesota's Twin Cities, the latest stop in President Donald Trump's wide-reaching immigration crackdown. Minneapolis and Saint Paul are home to the nation's largest Somali immigrant community, estimated to be between 60,000 and 80,000.
Omar said in the interview that ICE agents also recently entered a mosque where her son was praying, and spoke of her concern for her son as agents visited neighborhoods he frequents.
"I 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," Omar said. "They are looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented."
The Somali-American community has become a target for the president's growing anti-immigrant rhetoric over the past month, as he has issued several insults toward Somalia, the Somali-American population and some of Minnesota's Democratic lawmakers.
Starting on Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, Trump posted about a massive fraud and money laundering investigation in the state, in which a group of people allegedly perpetuated what the state's district attorney's office called the "largest Covid-19 fraud scheme in the country." Many of those accused in the scheme, though not all, are of Somali descent.
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The president also used a word to describe Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz that is considered a slur that references people with developmental disabilities in the posts, and falsely said refugees from Somalia were completely "taking over" Minnesota. A few days later, the president called Somali immigrants "garbage," and at a Dec. 10 rally, Trump called Somalia "filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime." He also made fun of Omar's hijab, which she chooses to wear as a practicing Muslim, calling it her "little turban."



























