Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born Minnesota congresswoman, has said Donald Trump is lashing out at her and her community with bigotry because he “knows he is failing”.
The US president dismissed Somali Americans earlier this week as “garbage” in a racist rant.
Omar, a Democrat, made the observation in a personal essay published by the New York Times praising the resilience of Somali Americans and condemning the Trump administration for its promise to send federal agents to Minneapolis and elsewhere in her state for immigration enforcement raids.
“The president knows he is failing, and so he is reverting to what he knows best: trying to divert attention by stoking bigotry,” she wrote.
Omar added: “Mr Trump denigrates not only Somalis but so many other immigrants, too, particularly those who are Black and Muslim. While he has consistently tried to vilify newcomers, we will not let him silence us. He fails to realize how deeply Somali Americans love this country.”
Trump delivered a second tirade against Somalis in general, and Omar in particular, following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The congresswoman, who is a US citizen, “should be thrown the hell out of our country”, the president said. Using an inaccurate term for Somalis, he added: “Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain.”
Omar, in the essay, pointed out that some of her Somali constituents voted for Trump. She suggested that the president’s racial animosity was ingrained, and resurgent now because of a failed domestic policy agenda.
“The president’s dehumanizing and dangerous attacks on minority immigrant communities are nothing new,” she wrote.
“When he first ran for president he launched his campaign with claims that he was going to pause Muslim immigration to this country. He has since falsely accused Haitian migrants of eating pets and referred to Haiti and African nations as ‘shithole’ countries.
“He has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug peddlers across our border. It is unconscionable that he fails to acknowledge how this country was built on the backs of immigrants and mocks their ongoing contributions.
after newsletter promotion
“While the president wastes his time attacking my community, my state, my governor and me, the promises of economic prosperity he made in his run for president last year have not come to fruition.”
Omar, 43, has been a constant target of Trump and Republicans since arriving Congress in 2019 as one of the first two Muslim women in the chamber. She was previously a state senator in Minnesota and is now part of a group of prominent, progressive Democratic members of the House of Representatives in Washington DC who call themselves “the Squad”. She was stripped by the Republican majority of her seat on the foreign affairs committee in 2023 for comments critical of Israel.
Omar asserted in her essay that Somali Americans remain resilient against the onslaught of attacks from the White House. But she added: “I am deeply worried about the ramifications of these tirades … What keeps me up at night is that people who share the identities I hold – Black, Somali, hijabi, immigrant – will suffer the consequences of [Trump’s] words.” She noted that bigotry from the White House so often went unchecked in Washington.
Omar’s essay concluded: “We will not let Mr Trump intimidate or debilitate us. We are not afraid. After all, Minnesotans not only welcome refugees, they also sent one to Congress.”