Ilhan Omar: 'This Attack Is Essentially On All Americans'
HuffPost
The Minneapolis representative opens up about the Trump administration targeting her community, including the deadly ICE shooting.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) represents communities that President Donald Trump has been targeting for years — and his attacks have frequently turned personal. With the effects of such attacks now putting her home state in the national spotlight, Omar feels a sense of responsibility.
“I am much more than a representative to these communities, I am one of them, and so we are all collectively hanging on to one another and standing by each other,” Omar told HuffPost on Friday, saying she was preparing to travel back to Minneapolis, which her district covers. “It’s been really important for us to understand that this moment is not about attacking one community of an ethnic background but this attack is essentially on Americans.”
Minneapolis has been reeling this week after an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good. The Trump administration alleges Good tried to run over law enforcement agents, despite video evidence that contradicts their claims. The shooting has a direct link to another set of questionable arguments from Trump and his political allies: The administration escalated its immigration enforcement operations in the state in late December after right-wing influencer Nick Shirley promoted allegations that Somalis in Minnesota committed $100 million worth of fraud — with conservatives arguing Democrats ignored the issue to avoid losing the community’s votes.
Trump has said Omar and other Somalis in Minnesota — the vast majority of whom are U.S. citizens — should be deported en masse.
“Renee Nicole Good’s murder was not an accident and not an isolated tragedy,” Omar wrote to HuffPost after the interview. “It was the predictable result of deliberate choices by Donald Trump and his administration. For weeks, the president has fueled fear and bigoted lies, especially targeting Minnesota’s Somali community while unleashing ICE to operate with near-total impunity. That reckless escalation created the conditions that led directly to Renee’s death.”
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