![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25344709318820-1.jpg?w=990\")
<\/p>\nRep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) walks to a vote at the U.S. Capitol Dec. 10, 2025. <\/span>Francis Chung\/POLITICO\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar<\/span> said<\/a> Sunday that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled over her son this weekend and asked him to prove his citizenship.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an interview with WCCO, a CBS affiliate based in Minneapolis, the Somali-born congresswoman said she\u2019s feared for her 20-year-old son since President Donald Trump and ICE began targeting Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities area earlier this month<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by ICE agents, and once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go,\u201d Omar, a refugee from Somalia, told WCCO\u2019s Esme Murphy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since descending on Minnesota, home of the largest <\/a>Somali community in the the country, ICE agents have detained several US citizens, according to local officials and video evidence<\/a>. The operation, \u201cMetro Surge,\u201d has prompted area residents to begin carrying around their passports and even avoid going outside, according<\/a> to The New York Times<\/em>. This includes Omar\u2019s son, who \u201calways carries\u201d his passport with him, the four-term congresswoman told Murphy.\u00a0<\/p>\n The incident described by Omar occurred one day after she announced that she was launching two formal inquiries into the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cescalating attacks on Somali communities in Minnesota and across the country,\u201d her website reads<\/a>. In a December 12 letter<\/a> to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE acting director Todd Lyons, Omar wrote that \u201cconstituents, advocates, and local officials have documented blatant racial profiling, an egregious level of unnecessary force, and activity that appears designed for social media rather than befitting a law enforcement agency.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI kept calling to see if he was okay, if he had any run-ins, and he wasn\u2019t answering,\u201d Omar told WCCO.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Among other questions, Omar wants Noem and Lyons to answer: \u201cHow many arrests were the result of judicial warrants?\u201d \u201cHow can the public report potential violations of constitutional rights, and how will those be investigated?\u201d and \u201cHow is ICE ensuring due process protections while a large volume of new officers are on the ground?\u201d<\/p>\n Amid a barrage of xenophobic remarks about Somali people in recent weeks, President Trump has repeatedly targeted<\/a> Omar, who arrived in the US as a refugee in the 1990s and became a citizen in 2000. These attacks go back to Trump\u2019s first term, when Omar was first elected to Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s garbage,\u201d Trump said<\/a> during a cabinet meeting December 2. \u201cHer friends are garbage. These aren\u2019t people who work. These aren\u2019t people who say, \u2018Let\u2019s go, come on, let\u2019s make this place great.\u201d In that meeting, the president also said that Somalia \u201cstinks\u201d and that immigrants from the country \u201ccome from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch.\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t want them in our country,\u201d he said multiple times.<\/p>\n At a Pennsylvania rally<\/a> this past Tuesday night, Trump called Somalia \u201cabout the worst country in the world\u201d and mocked Omar.\u00a0\u201cI love this Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is, with the little turban. I love her, she comes in, does nothing but bitch,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cShe should get the hell out, throw her the hell out,\u201d Trump continued as his supporters chanted \u201cGET HER OUT!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In her interview on Sunday, Omar said ICE had previously entered a local mosque where her son prays, before leaving without making any arrests last Friday. Omar said that throughout that day she was watching videos of ICE stops in the same neighborhood as the mosque.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept calling to see if he was okay, if he had any run-ins, and he wasn\u2019t answering,\u201d Omar told WCCO. \u201cEventually, that night I did get a chance to talk to him and I had to remind him just how worried I am.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) walks to a vote at the U.S. Capitol Dec. 10, 2025. Francis Chung\/POLITICO\/AP Get your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar said Sunday that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled over her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":344550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113422,12249,182,167433,104284],"tags":[13044,428,167434,2430,20183,7028,21654,20937,956],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-344549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ice","category-immigration","category-politics","category-somalis","category-trump","tag-asked","tag-ice","tag-ilhan","tag-jones","tag-minnesota","tag-mother","tag-omar","tag-pulled","tag-son"],"yoast_head":"\n\n