Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says ICE agents pulled over her son – US politics live

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In the interview with WCCO, Rep. Ilhan Omar said her office has received a flood of calls in the weeks since Trump began targeting her by name and calling her, and other Somalis, “garbage”.

Most of those calls, she said, are people lending their support and saying they disagree with the president.

“They also tell us to continue fighting, because it does set an example when you stand up to bullies,” Omar said.

She touched on the massive fraud cases in Minnesota, which is part of why Trump has said he’s going after Somalis. Many of those convicted of defrauding public programs, including a program meant to provide meals to kids, are of Somali descent. Omar said the whole community should not be blamed for the crimes of individuals, and that she and other Minnesotans also were “deeply hurt” by the fraud. As to whether money sent from Somalis in the US back home could be funding Al-Shabaab, the terrorist group – a claim made by rightwing media in recent weeks – she said she supports the government investigating.

Ilhan Omar says ICE agents pulled her son over

Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.

Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born Minnesota congresswoman, has said her son was pulled over by ICE agents on Saturday and asked to provide proof of citizenship.

“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,” she told WCCO’s Esme Murphy.

Omar fled civil war as a young child, came to the US as a refugee and became a US citizen in 2000.

She became one of the first people of Muslim faith to be elected to the US Congress after winning Minnesota’s fifth congressional district in the midterm elections in 2018.

Omar told WCCO that it was “disturbing” and “creepy” to have the president be “obsessed with you” – but said it is a deflection tactic to focus attention away from his political failures.