By Ali Harb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top Democrats across the country have come to the defense of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar after federal agents raided her home as the Trump administration intensifies its attacks on the president’s political opponents, especially Muslim politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Justice Department spokesperson said the execution of a search warrant at the Muslim American congresswoman’s home in Washington, DC, on Monday was part of an “ongoing federal criminal investigation.” Several media outlets reported that the probe relates to alleged immigration violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The progressive Democrat from Minnesota was quick to deny any wrongdoing and project defiance against Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\u2019m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” she wrote in a social media post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Omar, 44, came to the US legally with her family as a refugee when she was a child in 1995, and she has been an American citizen since 2000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a separate statement, Omar’s office said the congresswoman “has done nothing wrong.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For a decade, Donald Trump has relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with inflammatory rhetoric, repeatedly putting a target on her back,” the statement read. “Now, those attacks have escalated to a pointless federal raid.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats back Omar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The top Democrats in the House of Representatives – Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar – released a joint statement condemning the raid on Omar’s home as “disturbing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations. Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family,” the Democratic legislators said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The American people deserve transparency, and we will deliver full accountability for the rogue abuse of power from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is highly unusual for the Justice Department to carry out law enforcement action of that magnitude against an elected representative so close to the elections. The midterm vote will take place on November 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Omar represents an overwhelmingly Democratic district, and she is all but guaranteed another term in Congress. However, the raid comes as Republicans increasingly rely on Islamophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric in their campaigning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers has called his Democratic opponent a “terrorist” in recent days, and he campaigned alongside Senator John Kennedy, who said that the Democratic nominee sleeps in a “Bin Laden Jersey.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the raid against Omar’s home as an “obvious act of political persecution”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The president has spent years obsessively smearing Rep. Omar and demanding that law enforcement target her,” the group said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “So have anti-Muslim extremists who cannot stand the sight of an accomplished Black woman wearing a hijab and speaking up for human rights while serving her constituents in the halls of Congress. Today’s raid is undoubtedly a result of those demands.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Support from Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Omar, who embodies multiple identities demonized by right-wing politicians – immigrant, refugee, Israel critic, African, Black, Muslim, hijab-wearing woman – has long been a frequent target of attacks by Trump and his allies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who was elected alongside Omar as the first Muslim women in Congress in 2018, expressed solidarity with her fellow Democrat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “DHS raiding a member of congress’s home is exactly what a fascist police state does,” Tlaib wrote in a social media post, referring to the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This president should not be able to weaponize the federal government against political enemies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell also hit out at the Trump administration over the raid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is unprecedented, but unfortunately not surprising. Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted Congresswoman Omar with hateful rhetoric, contributing to death threats and violence,” Dingell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Political disagreements should never justify intimidation. No president should use the power of the federal government to threaten, silence, or intimidate political opponents.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has placed Omar in his crosshairs since she was first elected to Congress in 2018. During his first term, he shared several racist social media posts and tirades against her. At a rally in North Carolina in 2019, he nodded as his supporters chanted, “Send her back.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US president renewed his attacks against Omar after returning to the White House last year. In December, he called her and other Somalis in Minnesota “garbage.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator Chris Van Hollen called Trump’s targeting of Omar and his attacks on the Somali community a “heinous attempt to distract from his complete & utter failure as president.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump’s approval ratings are lingering in the low 30s amid growing discontent with the war on Iran and cost of living crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Every American should be chilled to the bone: these are the actions of a dictatorship not a democracy,” Van Hollen wrote on X.<\/p>\n