President Donald Trump posted a striking message on social media this week calling for a Democratic member of Congress—who is also a U.S. citizen—to be “thrown out” of the country.
For weeks, Trump has been attacking Somali-American Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota after reports alleged that some members of the Somali diaspora may have defrauded the state by billing for social services that were never provided.
On Wednesday, Trump shared an article from the conservative site Just the News about U.S. citizens of Somali origin allegedly transporting cash from Atlanta, Georgia, and Columbus, Ohio, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the way to Dubai, UAE. Alongside the post, he wrote:
“They should be thrown out of the USA. Get it done, NOW! That includes their loser Rep. Omar, who married her brother (gross!),”
He also amplified an interview with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, in which Emmer claimed the state’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz “should be in cuffs.”
Neither Walz nor Omar has been accused of involvement in the alleged fraud scheme.
It was not immediately clear who Trump was referring to or how he imagined removing Omar from the country. Deporting a U.S. citizen is unconstitutional. Omar, 43, fled Somalia’s civil war as a child, spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, and later came to the United States. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000 at age 17.
Trump’s focus on the idea of removing Omar from the country appears to have intensified after he shared a video on Christmas Day featuring former Fox News host Megyn Kelly questioning Omar’s citizenship. “Throw her out of the U.S., Now!” he wrote at the time.
He also criticized Omar in remarks made last month during a Cabinet meeting at the White House and again at a campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania. At the rally, he announced a “permanent pause” on migration from “hellholes” like Somalia, then returned to attacking Omar as the crowd began chanting, “Send her back!”
Omar later responded by calling out Trump’s fixation on her, describing it as “creepy” and “weird.”
