Donald Trump and his MAGA followers are obsessed with Somali-Americans. At a campaign event in Ohio on Monday, ostensibly to boost Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign, Trump fixated at length on Somali-Americans. They “don’t have pants to wear,” he claimed, but then he also expressed anger that they drive “Mercedes-Benz and BMWs.” He accused them of being “low IQ” and alleged that they “plundered, ransacked and destroyed” Minnesota.
The president’s remarks followed past comments in which he called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said they “aren’t people that work.” Last week, Trump demanded on Truth Social that Minnesotans “fight back,” saying, “Somalians should not be allowed to get away with what they are doing.”
The Raid on Ilhan Omar
It wasn’t too big a surprise when Homeland Security officials raided the home of perhaps the most famous Somali-American in the country, Rep. Ilhan Omar, on Monday. The action is part of an all-hands-on-deck effort to prove a conspiracy theory that has been percolating on the right for years, accusing Omar and her family of falsifying her documents to become a US citizen when she was 17.
The administration hopes it can denaturalize and deport the progressive lawmaker, whom Trump has deemed “deranged and sick,” repeatedly calling for her to be ejected from the country.
Omar herself called the raid “pointless” and “the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies.” It isn’t even the first time Trump’s administration has gone hunting for evidence that Omar’s citizenship is illegitimate. During his first term, Trump made the same demand of immigration officials, but they found “insufficient evidence of wrongdoing” and eventually abandoned the search.
The Real Reason
Trump’s accusations against Omar and Somali-Americans have more than a whiff of psychological projection. He calls her “crooked” and “terrible,” but it is Trump who was convicted of defrauding New York State, who tried to steal the 2020 election, and who has amassed over a billion dollars in wealth as president through cryptocurrency schemes.
The success of Omar and her fellow immigrants disproves the claim that non-white people are inferior and proves that the US is better off for allowing people from around the world to live here. For MAGA, the fear of immigration is not about feeling contaminated, but about being shown up and exposed as mediocrities in comparison to industrious newcomers.
Somali-Americans have higher than average rates of labor participation and contribute an estimated $8 billion a year to Minnesota’s economy alone. Like many immigrant communities, the second generation is doing much better economically than their parents.
The Birther Playbook
Trump’s attack on Omar is reminiscent of his previous accusations that Barack Obama was not a real US citizen. In 2011, Trump started a noisy public campaign demanding that the then-president produce his Hawaiian birth certificate. Obama eventually did release his birth certificate, but that ultimately didn’t matter to Trump and others who promoted the birther lie. It was never about the legal definition of “citizen.” It was about the way that the erudite, charismatic Obama revealed the insecurities of the people who would later call themselves MAGA.
This understanding exposes why Trump and MAGA have it in for Somali-Americans. Like any group of people, the Somali immigrant community contains good and bad people in it, but on the whole, their very existence is a testament to human tenacity. Like so many waves of refugees before them, these are people who took huge risks to survive, and many of them, like Omar, are thriving.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration raided Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home as part of a years-long effort to prove a conspiracy theory about her citizenship. The raid is the latest escalation in Trump’s obsession with Somali-Americans, whom he has called “garbage” and accused of destroying Minnesota. But the real reason for the attacks, critics argue, is that Somali immigrants are succeeding — and their success exposes the insecurities of the people attacking them.
My Opinion
Trump raided the home of a sitting congresswoman. Not because there was evidence of a crime, but because he wants to prove a conspiracy theory he has been pushing for years. The same conspiracy theory he pushed against Barack Obama. The same playbook. The same target: a Black immigrant who succeeded where he could not.
Omar fled war-torn Somalia at eight years old. She lived in a refugee camp for four years. She learned English, went to college, and became one of the most recognizable progressive voices in Congress. That is not a story of fraud. That is a story of America at its best. And it is exactly what MAGA cannot stand.
Trump calls Somali immigrants “garbage” while standing next to a podium in Ohio. He says they “don’t have pants to wear” and then complains they drive Mercedes. He cannot decide whether they are pathetic or threatening, so he settles on both. What he will not admit is that Somali-Americans contribute $8 billion a year to Minnesota’s economy.
This is not about immigration. It is about insecurity. The raid on Omar’s home is a distraction from inflation, from the war in Iran, from a president whose approval numbers are underwater. It is a stunt designed to fire up the base by attacking a woman they have been told to hate. But it will not work. Omar is still standing. And the people who elected her are watching
