President Donald Trump delivered one of his harshest rebukes yet of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, blasting the progressive lawmaker while discussing his administration’s immigration policies and enforcement priorities.
Speaking about the direction of the country and the dangers of admitting large numbers of migrants from failed states, Trump cited Omar as an example of what he argued is going wrong with America’s immigration system.
“We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” Trump said. “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people who work. These aren’t people who say, ‘Let’s go, let’s make this place great.’”
“These are people that do nothing but complain,” he continued. “When they come from hell, and they complain and do nothing but b—-, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.”
Omar arrived in the United States as a child refugee from Somalia and became a U.S. citizen 25 years ago. Trump, however, said Somalia “stinks” and insisted the U.S. should not be taking in migrants from the country — adding that the same applies to “other countries” that are failing to provide for or protect their own citizens.
His remarks came as reports indicate the federal government is preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation focusing on Somali nationals in Minnesota who are in the country unlawfully.
Trump has repeatedly pointed to Minneapolis’ large Somali community — represented in Congress by Omar — as evidence of how the immigration system has been abused and why stricter vetting and enforcement are needed. His comments Tuesday were a continuation of those critiques.
Trump also revisited his criticisms of Omar’s rhetoric on the Constitution and American governance. “When I see somebody like Ilhan Omar, who I don’t know at all, but I’ve watched her — for years — complain about our Constitution, how she’s being treated badly, how the United States of America is a bad place… she hates everybody, hates Jewish people, hates everybody,” Trump said. “I think she’s an incompetent person. She’s a real terrible person.”
Omar responded on social media shortly after the clip of Trump’s remarks began circulating.
“His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs,” she wrote.
The exchange underscores the deep divide between Trump and the progressive congresswoman, who has been one of the most vocal critics of America’s immigration enforcement system — and one of the figures Trump has singled out as emblematic of the far-left’s agenda and its hostility toward traditional American values.
The latest clash comes as Trump intensifies his push to tighten immigration laws, ramp up deportations, and end resettlement from countries he argues pose cultural or security risks to the United States.
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