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Ilhan Omar’s First Interview Since Raid Reveals Disturbing Details
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in a new interview detailed the moments federal agents conducted an early-morning raid at her home in Washington, D.C., which she said was “designed” to intimidate her. The Minnesota Democrat described coming home late from travel and going to bed around 3 a.m. when she heard loud “pounding” noises on her home’s front and back doors. “You don’t show up to somebody’s house that early in the morning unless you’re trying to freak them out,” Omar said. “And you know it obviously did freak all of us out.” She initially thought there was a fire or evacuation related to her neighbor’s safety, until she saw agents wearing vests labeled HSI, or Homeland Security Investigations. When her husband opened the door, Omar said they presented her with a warrant. She also said they asked her to sign a document waiving the constitutional protections afforded to her as a member of Congress, which she declined. “That was obnoxious. I couldn’t understand why they would think that I would sign such a thing,” she said. During the raid, which she said lasted “four to five hours” and involved as many as 25 agents, the authorities “mostly conducted themselves in a decent way.” Omar said they took 17 items, including her personal phone, her youngest daughter’s first phone, her husband’s notebooks, a camera he received from his uncle, and a Somali phrasebook used to learn the language. The congresswoman says she plans to move after the raid, raising concerns about the safety of her children being tracked and her address publicly known. “Obviously, I can’t continue to live there,” Omar said. In 2018, Omar made history as the first Somali American elected to Congress, a former refugee who came to the U.S. as a child and later became a naturalized citizen. President Donald Trump’s relentless targeting and some Republicans’ focus on Omar, however, also dates back to her first term in office. In July 2019, he told four congresswomen of color to “go back” to the places they came from. Earlier this year at his State of the Union address, he again said that Omar should be sent back to Somalia. And during a news conference in the Oval Office Tuesday, the president, without evidence, claimed that she could go to jail or risk deportation. He also called her “a disgrace to our country,” accused her of hating the U.S. and disparaged Somalia. “This is just my opinion. I think she’s a sick, a very dishonest person who hates our country,” Trump said. “And she comes from a country that is essentially not even a country, Somalia. It’s a real shithouse, OK?” No criminal charges against Omar have been announced. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.