US House member Ilhan Omar on Sunday defended the Somali community in her Minnesota congressional district, saying it was “completely disgusting” when Donald Trump recently referred to them as garbage.
“These are Americans that he is calling ‘garbage,’” Omar, a Somalia-born Democrat, said while responding to the president’s remarks on CBS’s Face the Nation. “I think it is also really important for us to remember that this kind of hateful rhetoric – and this level of dehumanizing – can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president.”
Those comments from Omar – who also spent some of her CBS interview discussing fraud cases involving Minnesota Somalis in recent years – served as replies to insults from Trump during a cabinet meeting. Beside calling them “garbage”, the president said Minnesota’s Somali community should be sent back to Somalia.
“Look at their nation,” Trump also said. “Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other.
Three Democratic members of Congress from Minnesota, including House representative Ilhan Omar, were blocked from entering...
