On Tuesday, President Trump called my friends and me “garbage.”
This comment was only the latest in a series of remarks and Truth Social posts in which the president has demonized and spread conspiracy theories about the Somali community and about me personally. For years, the president has spewed hate speech in an effort to gin up contempt against me. He reaches for the same playbook of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and division again and again. At one 2019 rally, he egged on his crowd until they chanted “send her back” when he said my name.
Mr. Trump denigrates not only Somalis but so many other immigrants, too, particularly those who are Black and Muslim. While he has consistently tried to vilify newcomers, we will not let him silence us. He fails to realize how deeply Somali Americans love this country. We are doctors, teachers, police officers and elected leaders working to make our country better. Over 90 percent of Somalis living in my home state, Minnesota, are American citizens by birth or naturalization. Some even supported Mr. Trump at the ballot box.
“I don’t want them in our country,” the president said this week. “Let them go back to where they came from.”
Somali Americans remain resilient against the onslaught of attacks from the White House. But I am deeply worried about the ramifications of these tirades. When Mr. Trump maligns me, it increases the number of death threats that my family, staff members and I receive. As a member of Congress, I am privileged to have access to security when these threats arise. What keeps me up at night is that people who share the identities I hold — Black, Somali, hijabi, immigrant — will suffer the consequences of his words, which so often go unchecked by members of the Republican Party and other elected officials. All Americans have a duty to call out this hateful rhetoric when we hear it.
The president’s dehumanizing and dangerous attacks on minority immigrant communities are nothing new. When he first ran for president a decade ago, he launched his campaign with claims that he was going to pause Muslim immigration to this country. He has since falsely accused Haitian migrants of eating pets and referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries. He has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug peddlers across our border. It is unconscionable that he fails to acknowledge how this country was built on the backs of immigrants and mocks their ongoing contributions.
While the president wastes his time attacking my community, my state, my governor and me, the promises of economic prosperity he made in his run for president last year have not come to fruition. Prices have not come down; in many cases, they have risen. His implementation of tariffs has hurt farmers and small business owners. His policies have only worsened the affordability crisis for Americans. And now, with Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire, health care costs for American households are primed to skyrocket, and millions of people risk losing their coverage under his signature domestic policy bill.
The president knows he is failing, and so he is reverting to what he knows best: trying to divert attention by stoking bigotry.
When I was sworn into Congress in 2019, my father turned to me and expressed bewilderment that the leader of the free world was picking on a freshman member of Congress, one out of 535 members of the legislative body. The president’s goal may have been to try to tear me down, but my community and my constituents rallied behind me then, just as they are now.
I often say that although Minnesota may be cold, the people here have warm hearts. Minnesota is special. That is why when so many Somali Americans arrived in this country, they chose the state as home. I am deeply grateful to the people of Minnesota for the generosity, hospitality and support they have shown to every immigrant community in our state.
We will not let Mr. Trump intimidate or debilitate us. We are not afraid. After all, Minnesotans not only welcome refugees, they also sent one to Congress.
Ilhan Omar is a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected].
Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.
The post Ilhan Omar: Trump Knows He’s Failing. Cue the Bigotry. appeared first on New York Times.
