Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said her son was pulled over by ICE agents on Saturday and demanded that he prove his citizenship.
“Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents, and once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go,” Omar, 43, told WCCO in an interview on Sunday.
Omar stated that her son “always” has his passport in his possession. Omar’s comments came after she said that ICE had also entered a mosque where her son, together with other people, were praying. She said that they later left without incident.
In the wake of that incident, Omar said she “had to remind him just how worried I am, because all of these areas that they are talking about are areas where he could possibly find himself in and they are racially profiling, they are looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented.”
Omar’s recent comments came after ICE agents intensified their operations in the Twin Cities, primarily targeting Somali immigrants illegally staying in the country, CBS News reported. President Donald Trump has also previously described Omar as “garbage” and stated that he doesn’t want Somalis “in our country.”
Omar also sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, where she registered her displeasure with the behavior of federal agents in the Twin Cities. She accused them of “blatant racial profiling” and “an egregious level of unnecessary force.”
“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,” she claimed.
Per data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the United States.
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