AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
The Department of Homeland Security skewered Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Tuesday, claiming the Minnesota Democrat lied about her son being pulled over by ICE last week in an operation targeting Somalis.
“ICE has absolutely ZERO record of its officers or agents pulling over Congresswoman Omar’s son,” the DHS said on its official X account.
The account said it was “shameful” that Omar made the claim “with no evidence.” Her goal, the DHS said, was to “demonize ICE as part of a PR stunt.”
DHS, which is run by Kristi Noem, added:
Allegations that ICE engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, DHS law enforcement uses “reasonable suspicion” to make arrests.
That response was made after Omar told WCCO in Minneapolis on Sunday that her son was hassled by ICE. Omar said she told her son that ICE was “racially profiling” Somalis and people who “they think are undocumented.”
She said her son saw ICE agents come into his mosque last Friday, but nothing happened. Omar said the next day, when her son was coming home from Target, he was pulled over by ICE agents. “And once he was able to produce his passport I.D., they let him go.”
Omar shared the story after President Donald Trump recently said he did not want more Somalis like her — whom he called “garbage” and a “terrible person” — to come into the U.S.
“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” the president said. “Some will say that is not ‘politically correct.’” I don’t care. Their country is no good for a reason.”
Trump’s comments were made a few days after The New York Times reported some Somalis living in Minnesota orchestrated a fraud scheme that, according to federal prosecutors, stole “more than $1 billion in taxpayers’ money.”
Omar has responded a few times since then, including branding the president a “national embarrassment.”
