On Monday, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided the Washington, D.C., home of Congressmember Ilhan Omar. Omar has faced years of racist targeting from President Trump over her ethnicity and immigrant background. She immigrated to the United States as a refugee from Somalia when she was a child. Omar is the first Somali American elected to federal office, the first woman of color to represent Minnesota and, along with Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

“Congresswoman Omar has been under attack by this administration for the last decade. … She’s a symbol of everything that this administration hates: an immigrant who stands up for her community, who fought to be here in this country, and now is doing her job and her duty to serve her constituents,” says our guest Zaynab Mohamed, a fellow Somali immigrant who represents Minneapolis in Minnesota’s state Senate. As Trump spews racist invective against the Somali American community in Minnesota, Mohamed says, “We will continue to do everything we can to reject this type of hate and rhetoric from this administration.”

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

The Trump administration is expanding its targeting of Ilhan Omar, the Democratic congressmember from Minnesota. Monday, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided her home in Washington. D.C. The New York Times reports federal agents have also issued subpoenas to some of her relatives, including her sister.

In a statement Monday, Congressmember Omar said, “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced,” she said.

Congressmember Omar is the first Somali American in the U.S. Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota. Trump has repeatedly attacked Omar and the Somali community for years, calling both “garbage.” This is President Trump speaking at a rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, Saturday, just two days before the raid.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: How about Ilhan Omar? She comes from Somalia. She comes from Somalia. They don’t have a government. They don’t have police. They don’t — all they have his crime and squalor. And she comes into our country, and she says, “My Constitution allows me.” She’s talking about our Constitution. What they’ve done to Minnesota, these people from Somalia, what they’ve done to Minnesota should never be allowed. And let’s see what happens. JD Vance and our people are looking at it very strongly.

AMY GOODMAN: That was President Trump, just days before federal agents raided Congressmember Omar’s home. On Monday, Trump claimed he had nothing to do with the raid.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: She comes from a country that is a non-country, and then she comes over here, and she complains about our Constitution. I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ. I have nothing to do with it.

AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Minneapolis, where we’re joined by Zaynab Mohamed. She’s a Minnesota state senator representing Minneapolis. She’s a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. She, too, was born in Somalia, came to the U.S. when she was 9 years old. In 2023, she became the youngest member in Minnesota state Senate history and the first Somali woman.

Thank you so much for being with us, State Senator. If you can respond to your colleague, what has happened to Congressmember Ilhan Omar? The — not exactly the Justice Department, but Homeland Security agents raiding her home in Washington, D.C. And now, according to The New York Times, family members, including her sister, have been subpoenaed. What we reportedly hear, the warrants involve her immigration status. Like you, she came to the United States from Somalia as a child.

SEN. ZAYNAB MOHAMED: Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me, Amy. It’s great to be here with you.

I think what we know is the fact that the Justice Department has historically avoided cases like this so close to the election, and it is unprecedented. We also know that Congresswoman Omar has been — has been under attack by this administration for the last decade. You’ve mentioned that. And we’re talking about what they’re — what they’re targeting is paperwork that was filled out by her father decades ago when she was a child. And so, you know, as far as we can tell, this is bogus, because it’s so close to the election. We know that this administration has been targeting their political — what they consider their political enemies or people who speak up against them.

But here in Minnesota, people support our congresswoman. There was a rally for her yesterday, after — the day before yesterday, after the headlines came out that they had raided her home and were investigating her. And everyone in this state has been through what we’ve been through the past year, which is an occupation by this federal government in the Metro Surge and the loss and the killings of our neighbors Alex Pretti and Renee Good. And so, we know that Ilhan is somebody who stands up for her community, and we’re going to continue to stand with her in this moment.

AMY GOODMAN: I was listening to Jamie Raskin last night, congressmember, constitutional lawyer, talking about all the Democrats that the Justice Department has gone after, weaponizing — for example, Senator Schiff and LaMonica McIver in New Jersey, who was charged after trying to protect the Newark Mayor Ras Baraka when he was trying to investigate an ICE facility, for-profit facility, in Newark, as well as others. Can you talk about what this means for a sitting representative to be raided, to be subpoenaed? And this is, let’s be clear, all congressmembers are now up for reelection, and within this period of not just two months, but one month within the election, and how unusual this is.

SEN. ZAYNAB MOHAMED: Well, it’s unusual, right? Like I said earlier, the Justice Department usually avoids cases like this so close to the election. You know, you also mentioned all of the individuals and congresspeople who’ve gone after this administration. They go right after them, and they use the Justice Department to do so. And the facts are, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is a real person. She’s an American citizen with rights. But this investigation isn’t about her. And I think that’s what we need to get across. She’s a symbol of everything that this administration hates: an immigrant who stands up for her community, who fought to be here in this country, and now is doing her job and her duty to serve her constituents.

AMY GOODMAN: So, let me ask you — President Trump, Markwayne Mullin, head of Homeland Security, are now explicitly threatening to send federal agents back into your state, back into Minnesota. What’s your response?

SEN. ZAYNAB MOHAMED: We’ve been through this before. You know, before Metro Surge, Donald Trump said the Somali people are garbage. You said that. He called our community garbage and used that as a justification to bring thousands of agents to the state of Minnesota, which led to the killings of our neighbors. And we know that they’re setting a precedent right now to go after our congresswoman, to investigate her, to raid her home, so that they can use that as an opportunity to bring thousands of more agents into our community. But here in Minneapolis, people are vigilant. They’re organized. We know what we’ve been through. And, you know, I think people are going to reject this type of rhetoric from them.

AMY GOODMAN: Trump also posted on Truth Social, “The once Great State of Minnesota is being taken over by Somali immigrants. There is Violence, Murder, and Mayhem all over the State. The people of Minnesota must fight back. … The Somalians should not be allowed to get away with what they are doing. They view you as weak and stupid people. Fight back Minnesota, fight back! If you need, the Federal Government will come to your rescue.”

Now, a group of Minnesotans held a news conference and particularly said him talking about fighting back, talking about suggesting violence goes to a very serious issue. This is Abdulahi Farah, an imam at the mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota, which was bombed by a far-right militia in 2017.

ABDULAHI FARAH: Instead of bringing Minnesotans together to find solutions, President Trump chose to make sweeping accusations against my Somali American community and telling people to fight back. Fight back against whom? What exactly is the president asking people to do? These words are reckless. They are dangerous, and they have consequences. I know it personally, because in 2017, after those type of reckless rhetoric, my mosque, Dar al-Farooq, was bombed. It was bombed because of act of hate. We know what it means when an entire community who comes to worship are made to feel unsafe. Blaming an entire community is not accountability. Scapegoating is not a public safety strategy.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Abdulahi Farah, an imam at the mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota. State Senator Zaynab Mohamed, as we wrap up, are you concerned about violence increasing against the Somali community as a result of the increased rhetoric, and also President Trump saying JD Vance is investigating all of this?

SEN. ZAYNAB MOHAMED: Absolutely, we’re afraid of violence being taken against our community. What we’re seeing is the leader of this country incite violence against an entire community and tell Minnesotans that if they fight back against this very tiny population, that they — that the federal government will have their back. That’s inciting violence. And it’s a rhetoric that has no place in our state. We’ve been through a mass shooting at Annunciation Church in June last year. We’ve been through political assassinations of our very own colleagues. We’ve also been through Metro Surge and how violent that was.

The truth is, Minnesotans understand who their Somali neighbors are. These folks have been here for decades, some of them. It’s their — they’re in their second or third generations. Minneapolis is their home, and they’re not going anywhere. And we will continue to do everything we can to reject this type of hate and rhetoric from this administration and to stand up for our immigrant neighbors.

AMY GOODMAN: Zaynab Mohamed, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Minnesota state Senator representing Minneapolis. We’ll continue to cover this story.