Deport Them All T Shirt

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar says her son was pulled over by ICE

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said federal immigration agents pulled over her son on Saturday and asked him to 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 said in an interview with Esme Murphy on WCCO Sunday Morning.

WCCO has reached out to ICE about the incident.

The congresswoman said her son “always carries” his passport with him.

Omar said ICE also previously entered a mosque where her son and others were praying, but left without incident. After that, she 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.”

Earlier this month, federal agents surged into the Twin Cities with the stated goal of targeting undocumented Somali immigrants. The enhanced focus on the Somali community came after President Trump said he doesn’t “want them in our country” and called Omar herself “garbage.”

On Friday, Omar sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, accusing federal agents of “blatant racial profiling” and “an egregious level of unnecessary force” in the Twin Cities.

“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.

U.S. Census Bureau data show Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the country — about 107,000, more than 80,000 of them living in the Twin Cities. Omar contends that “over 90% of Somalis in America are U.S. citizens,” citing an American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau that estimates about 22,000 Somalis in the country — around 8.4% of the population — are not citizens.

Omar was born in Somalia, came to the U.S. as a child and earned her citizenship in 2000.