President Donald Trump openly questioned whether Rep. Ilhan Omar deserves constitutional protections during a campaign rally in Texas this week, escalating his attacks on the Minnesota Democrat as midterm elections draw closer.
Donald Trump’s Texas rally remarks about Omar’s Somali origins
Trump told supporters in Lubbock on Tuesday night that Omar invoked her constitutional rights shortly after arriving in the United States from Somalia. “She was from Somalia and she came over and right away she started opening her mouth, ‘I have constitutional rights,'” he said, according to remarks at the rally. The president went on to describe Somalia in dismissive terms, saying it lacks a functioning government, police force, and legal system. “It’s not even a country. It’s just a piece of land,” he said.
Trump then ridiculed Omar’s assertion directly. “She goes, ‘I have constitutional rights.’ The arrogance,” he said, before moving into comments about Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan.
The remarks reportedly appear to suggest Donald Trump believes Ilhan Omar, a U.S. citizen, should not receive protections guaranteed under the Constitution, including freedom of speech and religion. Those rights apply to everyone present in the United States, not solely to citizens (via Truthout).
Trump has directed similar criticism at Omar multiple times during the midterm cycle, including shortly after Homeland Security Investigations conducted a pre-dawn raid on her home earlier this month.
Tuesday’s rally was his most explicit suggestion yet that she does not deserve such protections. Moreover, the comments were made as Trump’s administration reportedly pushes to denaturalize and deport Omar as part of a wider deportation effort. Critics of that campaign argue it has already weakened or directly violated constitutional liberties.
The president has also targeted Somali immigrants in Minnesota, Omar’s home state. In a Truth Social post days before the raid on her house, he urged “the people of Minnesota” to “fight back” against Somali immigrants. He has previously referred to Somalia as a “garbage country.”
