Trump escalates bigoted rant against Somali immigrants and calls for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to be thrown ‘out of our country’
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President Donald Trump has called for immigrants from Somalia — including Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar — to “be thrown the hell out” of the U.S., escalating his rhetoric against a community that has long drawn his ire.
He made the remarks in the Oval Office on Wednesday, a day after describing immigrants from the East African nation as “garbage” and claiming they “do nothing but complain.”
While sitting behind the Resolute Desk, the Republican president was told by a reporter that Jacob Frey — the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis — is proud to have a large number of Somali immigrants in the city.
Before she could ask her question, Trump responded, “Well then, he’s a fool.”
“I wouldn’t be proud,” the president said. “Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other…And the Somalians should be out of here. They have destroyed our country.”
He then singled out Omar, a progressive Democrat and frequent recipient of Trump’s withering criticism.
“They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother, that’s a fraud, she tries to deny it now, but you can’t really deny it because, you know, it just happened,” Trump said.
Omar’s family fled Somalia’s civil war, seeking refuge in Kenya, before moving to Minneapolis in 1997. The Somali-American has dismissed allegations that she married her brother, potentially to flout immigration laws, as “baseless rumors.”
“She shouldn’t be allowed to be a congresswoman,” Trump continued. “And I’m sure people are looking at that. And she should be thrown the hell out of our country.”
Following the president’s comments, Omar, Frey and a crowd of other Democrats quickly issued condemnatory responses.
“He’s always been a racist, a bigot, a xenophobic and Islamaphobic,” Omar told MS NOW. “So it is not surprising that he is going after Black immigrants in this country.”
“We love that Minnesota has welcomed us,” she added. “And we are going to be here regardless of what the president has to say.”
In a post on X, Frey — who has been in office since 2018 — wrote, “Somali Americans are Americans. Their nation is America. And we are proud to have these Americans in Minneapolis.”
Minnesota Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat, chimed in as well, writing on X that it’s “doubtful that Donald Trump could even find Somalia on a map.”
