Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claimed Monday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that “xenophobic and racist” Republican voters respond with campaign donations to GOP members and petition signatures when Republican lawmakers call her out.
Co-host Pamela Brown said, “I want to follow up with something else, because we recently had one of your Republican colleagues, Brandon Gill, on the show. He said that America would be better off if you were arrested and deported. He also said that there was audio of you advising what he said are illegal immigrants here from Somalia on how to evade ICE detection. I want you to respond to that.”
Omar said, “Yeah, I mean, again, you know, these are people who have really stopped caring about our institutions, really stopped caring about our Constitution. We know that folks who are here, whether they are documented or undocumented, we know whether you are a permanent resident or you are a citizen you have constitutional rights. It is really important for people to know those rights. I know that it is red meat for his base that are xenophobic and racist to to say to them that I am going to find a way to arrest and deport a member of Congress who he thinks is is doing something wrong. When I am doing the right thing, in trying to make sure everybody that is within my constituency has the resources and the information that they need.”
Brown said, “Just just to follow up very quickly, just to be clear, you’re not calling his all of his base xenophobic and racist, right?”
Omar said, “Well, I mean, he is feeding to something. He has a petition out, he’s getting donations. That’s what this is all about. He knows he can’t deport me. There is no grounds for for my arrest. So this information is only being put out there by him for a reason. And that reason is because he has a base that feeds off of that.”
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