Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked at town hall amid increased harassment from Trump
A man attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar at a Tuesday town hall in Minneapolis, appearing to spray her with an unknown substance as she spoke about her desire to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Omar, a Democrat who has represented Minneapolis since 2019 and has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration enforcement actions there, continued the meeting after the man was wrestled away from her podium by security.
“Here’s the reality that people like this ugly man don’t understand. We are Minnesota strong, and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us,” she told the crowd. Later on X, she added: “I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win.”
Minnesota has also been under an intense federal immigration crackdown since last December, with federal agents conducting raids primarily in the Twin Cities and killing two people in incidents that sparked national outrage. Omar has continued to call for abolishing ICE, urging Trump to “get your goons out of Minnesota.”
Tuesday’s attack is not the first physical violence Omar has faced — beyond being on the Hill on January 6, 2021, she was attacked at a party caucus meeting as a staffer in 2014 — but rhetoric against the four-term representative has increased dramatically over the last few months, particularly egged on by Trump.
When asked about Tuesday’s attack, Trump replied that he hadn’t seen the video, saying, “I don’t think about her. I think she’s a fraud. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
Trump himself regularly launches verbal attacks against Omar, making her one of his most frequent targets in Congress. The night Omar was attacked, Trump held a rally in Iowa and made derogatory remarks about Somalis and other immigrants as he has increasingly over the last few months, mentioning her by name: “They have to show that they can love our country. Not like Ilhan Omar. Did you see that wiseguy? She’s always talking about the Constitution … She comes from a country that is a disaster.”
Omar is the first Somali American in Congress, and ICE has targeted the Somali community in Minneapolis.
Dozens of people have been convicted and more charged in what prosecutors have described as a scheme to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from a government social services program. Most of those arrested belonged to Minnesota’s deep Somali diaspora, casting a shadow over members of the community, many of whom came to the United States to avoid an active conflict and humanitarian crisis.
The national vitriol was exacerbated by a viral December 26 video that claimed to show fraud at various Minneapolis day cares run by Somali Americans. Though the real story is less nefarious than suggested, Trump froze child care payments to five Democrat-run states and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz suspended his reelection campaign in part due to the backlash.
In a wave of Truth Social statements in December amid fallout from the viral video and the wider Minnesota fraud investigation arrests, Trump blasted Walz and Omar as “scammers” in over 160 posts within the span of a few hours. He also announced this week that the Justice Department and Congress were investigating her, in a post that also announced a separate shuffling of the federal agents in charge of managing immigration raids in Minneapolis. Under former President Joe Biden, the DOJ had opened an investigation into her finances and interactions with a foreign citizen in 2024, but closed it for lack of evidence, per The New York Times.
Omar said she has not been supported by GOP colleagues during Trump’s increased online attacks.
“It isn’t surprising because the Republicans have bent the knee,” Omar said during a December MS NOW appearance. “They’ve welcomed his disgusting rhetoric. I’m not expecting any of them to develop a backbone now.”