President Donald Trump recently made pointed comments regarding certain immigrant groups, explicitly rejecting Somali migrants and taking an indirect shot at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), whom he accused of having married her brother to facilitate entry into the U.S.
Speaking with Politico’s Dasha Burns, President Trump initially praised the successful Venezuelan immigrant community in Doral, Florida. When asked if those were the kinds of immigrants he wished to see in America, Trump agreed, stating he wants “to see people that contribute.”
However, he immediately shifted his focus to groups he opposed, zeroing in on an unnamed individual widely understood to be Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. “I don’t want to see Somalia,” Trump said, adding, “I don’t want to see a woman that, you know, marries her brother to get in and then becomes a congressman and does nothing but complain.” He continued the critique, stating, “All she does is complain, complain, complain, and yet her country’s a mess… Uh, let her go back, fix up her own country.”
The issue of Omar’s alleged marriage to her brother, a claim she denies, has been a long-standing point of controversy. In the mid-1990s, Omar was permitted to migrate to the U.S. as a P-3 refugee, a status granted based on being related to someone already resettled in the country. Omar claimed P-3 status by stating she was a member of an “Omar” family already in the U.S.
However, the P-3 refugee program was later ended by the George W. Bush administration due to widespread fraud. Officials discovered that Somalis were widely lying about their relationships to gain entry, with 87 percent of applicants for P-3 status found to have been dishonest about being related to a refugee already in the U.S. The State Department eventually stopped relying on migrant claims and began requiring DNA testing to prove family relationships. Concerns were also raised by the Bush administration that Islamic terrorists were abusing the program for entry.
Rumors surrounding Omar’s immigration status and various marriages have persisted. An FBI investigation into the claim that Omar married her brother to maintain her immigration status was reportedly launched in 2020, following an extensive local media investigation that was ultimately unable to definitively confirm or deny the allegation. In November, Trump previously stated that if Omar had indeed flaunted U.S. immigration laws by marrying her own brother to trick the system, she should be deported.