Rep. Ilhan Omar said President Donald Trump's recent comments attacking Somali immigrants and calling her "garbage" are part of a long pattern of rhetoric that puts communities at risk in an opinion essay published Thursday in The New York Times.
"On Tuesday, President Trump called my friends and me 'garbage,'" Omar wrote, adding that the president "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."
Throughout the sprawling Op-Ed, Omar referenced past incidents, including a 2019 campaign rally where Trump supporters chanted "send her back." She wrote that Trump "denigrates not only Somalis but so many other immigrants, too, particularly those who are Black and Muslim."
Trump repeated similar claims this week when discussing immigration enforcement. Speaking during a cabinet meeting, he said: "I don't want them in our country... Let them go back to where they came from." He also referred to Somali immigrants as "garbage," according to public remarks and posted clips referenced by Omar.
The administration is currently preparing a targeted immigration enforcement action in Minnesota that could lead to hundreds of detentions of Somali immigrants with deportation orders, according to officials familiar with the plans.
Omar wrote that Trump's rhetoric fuels threats against her and others. "When Mr. Trump maligns me, it increases the number of death threats that my family, staff members and I receive," she said, adding concern that "people who share the identities I hold — Black, Somali, hijabi, immigrant — will suffer the consequences of his words."
In her essay, Omar argued that Somali Americans are deeply integrated into U.S. society. She wrote: "We are doctors, teachers, police officers and elected leaders... Over 90 percent of Somalis living in my home state, Minnesota, are American citizens by birth or naturalization."
Omar concluded that the attacks reflect political weakness on the president's part, writing: that "the president knows he is failing, and so he is reverting to what he knows best: trying to divert attention by stoking bigotry."
"We will not let Mr. Trump intimidate or debilitate us," she added. "We are not afraid."
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