Former US President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Somalia-born Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Friday, using her refugee background to revive an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that she married her brother to enter the United States. His remarks came as he escalated hardline immigration rhetoric following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House by an Afghan national. Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Omar “the worst Congressman/woman” in the country and claimed, without evidence, that she entered the US illegally.
He repeated the long-debunked allegation that she married her brother for immigration benefits, and attacked her Muslim identity and Somali origin, accusing her of constantly criticising America and calling Somalia a “decadent, backward, and crime-ridden nation.” There is no proof supporting the claim that Omar ever married a sibling or committed immigration fraud.
Ilhan Omar was born in Somalia and fled the civil war at the age of eight. After spending four years in a Kenyan refugee camp, she arrived in the United States in 1995 and became an American citizen in 2000. She has represented Minnesota in Congress since 2019 and secured her fourth term in 2024. Her personal life has repeatedly come under political scrutiny.
She married Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in 2002 and had two children. After they separated, she married Ahmed Elmi in 2009, ending that marriage in 2011, and later reunited with Hirsi, with whom she had a third child in 2012. She officially divorced Elmi in 2017 and eventually married political consultant Tim Mynett. Although a UK media report once claimed she privately told friends that Elmi was her brother, no evidence has emerged to support this allegation, and no investigation has established wrongdoing.
Trump’s comments also followed his announcement that he would end temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota and re-examine green cards issued to immigrants from 19 countries, including Somalia. He claimed that “Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for prey,” portraying immigrants as a threat to public safety. The clash between Trump and Omar has intensified in recent weeks, with Trump and his supporters repeatedly targeting her for her heritage and publicly urging her to leave the United States despite her citizenship and elected position.
