The Texas lawmaker who last week called for the deportation of Rep. Ilhan Omar is now escalating the effort, urging his supporters to sign a petition to that end.
Concretely, Rep. Brandon Gill’s campaign sent a fundraising email titled “Petition: Deport Ilhan Omar.” The text says “we should have never let” the lawmaker, who is Somali American, “into our country.”
“Sign my petition and let’s send her back to Somalia where she belongs,” reads a passage of the petition, reported by Axios.
The message also accuses Omar of “facilitating a full-scale invasion of our country,” claiming that a “normal society would refer to that as treason.”
Gill was seemingly making reference to a video in which Omar tells Somalis in her Minnesota district that they are “not obligated” to answer questions from ICE. She also urged them to “learn the laws and prepare.”
Omar responded to the attack, saying in a statement that it “is truly disgusting that members of the Republican party feel emboldened to engage in racist and quite frankly fascist remarks.”
“Representative Gill’s attempt to clout chase by threatening to deport a legal US citizen because you disagree with them is directly out of Donald Trump’s fascist playbook,” added Omar, who came to the US as a refugee during the Somali civil war in 1995. She became a US citizen five years later.
The feud began last week when Gill posted on X that “America would be a better place if @IlhanMN were deported back to Somalia.”
The post was accompanied by a video claiming Omar was hosting workshops advising Somalians on how to avoid being deported. Elon Musk later shared the same video, claiming Omar was “breaking the law,” necessitating a response from the lawmaker.
Omar also responded to the publication, saying “it’s embarrassing that these people are just so easy to mislead and it’s funny how their eagerness to harass me makes them look so stupid.” “My advice, do your homework and stop believing every dumb racist humor that you hear. I am not going anywhere you 🤡,” she added.
It’s embarrassing that these people are just so easy to mislead and it’s funny how their eagerness to harass me makes them look so stupid.
My advice, do your homework and stop believing every dumb racist rumor that you hear. I am not going anywhere you 🤡 https://t.co/qUHSQLOCoz
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 4, 2025
Originally published on Latin Times
