Ilhan Omar Says ICE Questioned Her Son's Citizenship After a Stop: 'Had to Remind Him Just How Worried I Am'

Rep. Ilhan Omar said federal immigration agents stopped her son over the weekend and questioned his citizenship, an incident she described as part of a broader pattern of racial profiling amid stepped-up immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

In an interview on WCCO Sunday Morning, the Minnesota Democrat said her son was pulled over by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Saturday after making a stop at a Target store.

"Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by ICE agents, and once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go," Omar said according to CBS News. She added that her son always carries his passport with him and that the incident heightened her concerns about the targeting of Somali Americans in the Twin Cities.

"I had to remind him just how worried I am," Omar said, adding that federal agents are "racially profiling" young men who "look Somali" and questioning their immigration status in public spaces. The congresswoman also said ICE agents had previously entered a mosque where her son and others were praying, though no arrests were made during that encounter.

Omar's comments come amid an expanded federal immigration operation in the Twin Cities that began earlier this month. Federal officials have said the effort is aimed at undocumented immigrants, but Omar and community advocates argue the enforcement has disproportionately affected Somali Americans.

In a letter sent Friday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, Omar accused federal agents of "blatant racial profiling" and an "egregious level of unnecessary force." She wrote that the surge appeared to follow President Donald Trump's recent remarks about Somali immigrants and about her personally.

"It is clear to me that this surge came in direct response to Trump's racist comments about Somali people, and about me in particular," Omar wrote.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the United States, with about 107,000 residents identifying as Somali, most of them living in the Twin Cities. Omar has said that more than 90% of Somali Americans are U.S. citizens.

Omar added that she is seeking detailed information from federal authorities about the scope, cost, and legal basis of the enforcement effort, and warned that indiscriminate stops risk undermining trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities.

The episode follows a series of recent clashes between Omar and the Trump administration. In a New York Times opinion essay published Thursday, she wrote that Trump "has demonized and spread conspiracy theories about the Somali community and about me personally," and that he "reaches for the same playbook of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and division again and again."