Rep.Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said her adult son was pulled over byImmigration and Customs Enforcementagents Saturday in Minnesota and asked to provide proof of citizenship.
"Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by ICE agents," Omar, who said her son was born in the U.S., toldWCCO-TVof the Twin Cities in an interview Sunday. "Once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go."
Omar, who immigrated to the U.S. when she was 12 after having fled Somalia's civil war, also accused ICE of "racially profiling" her community.
"They are looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented," she said.
About 80,000 people of Somali descent live in Minnesota.
Representatives for ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and Omar's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An administration officialpreviously told NBC News thatICE was not specifically targeting Somali immigrants.
Omar's on-air remarks came after shesent a letterto DHS on Friday about this month's immigration operations in her state while signing ontoanother letterto DHS with other Democratic lawmakers the same day requesting answers about President Donald Trump's pledge last monthto "immediately" endtemporary legal protections for Somalis living in Minnesota. The administration has taken steps toend similar protections for Haitians, Afghans and Venezuelans living in the U.S.
Trump has repeatedly disparaged Omar, Somalia and Somali immigrants.
"We always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right?" Trumptold a crowd of supporterslast week in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania. "Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime."
Trump's recent focus on Minnesota and Omarcomes after The New York Times reportedthat dozens of people of Somali descent have been convicted in connection with fraud schemes related to the theft of around $1 billion in Covid relief funds.
"Here in the United States, we don't blame the crimes of an individual on a whole community," Omar said in Sunday's interview. "We are, as Minnesotans, also outraged, the fact that our tax dollars were defrauded."
