“Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar’s days may be numbered after a controversial admission.
However, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley recommended proceeding with caution when it comes to ousting the Minnesota Democrat — both from Congress and the country, as some have suggested.
The firestorm began after a video emerged Sunday, purportedly showing Omar saying “Somalians first, Muslims second” — and American nowhere — in a translated speech.
The radical Democrat, who is a Muslim and came to the U.S. as a Somali refugee, is no stranger to holding views and making remarks that are anti-Semitic and anti-American.
Still, this latest speech was a bridge too far for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who shared the video and offered severe remedies for dealing with Omar.
“Expel from Congress, denaturalize and deport!” the former GOP presidential candidate posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
Expel from Congress, denaturalize and deport! https://t.co/UyjEmSSIoQ
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 30, 2024
The video featured Omar speaking in her native tongue with English subtitles.
Will Ilhan Omar be voted out of Congress?
“People who know they are Somalians first, Muslims second, who protect one another, come to each other’s aid and to the aid of other Muslims too,” Omar said according to the subtitles.
“Sleep in comfort, knowing I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system,” she later added.
While DeSantis’s suggestion is satisfying for those who deservedly despise Omar, Turley warned this is exactly the wrong approach.
“While I have been a long critic of Omar, her views expressed in this speech are not only protected speech, but they are not a basis for denaturalization,” the constitutional legal scholar wrote on his blog Wednesday.
“The speech has led to calls for expulsion from Congress and denaturalization. Neither would be appropriate, in my view,” he explained.
The author and commentator explained that Omar’s speech “is clearly protected under the First Amendment” as she shared where her “personal priorities and loyalties” lie.
Turley conceded that Omar has “remained a controversial figure due to her statements on Israel and other subjects” but that “growing calls for denaturalization are disconnected from governing constitutional and statutory standards.”
Stripping away citizenship does not apply here, as it “is largely based on the granting of citizenship based on fraudulent or false representations” under Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution, Turley said.
“The greatest disconnect in these calls is that Omar would be stripped of her citizenship for exercising the very right that defines us as citizens,” Turley explained.
The greatest disconnect in these calls is that Omar would be stripped of her citizenship for exercising the very right that defines us as citizens. We are bound by a covenant of faith in our Constitution, a commitment to each other’s right to speak freelyhttps://t.co/LwdSzCgsWn
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) January 31, 2024
“This country is not endangered by a lack of patriotism or even a lack of loyalty in others. It is threatened by allowing our anger to blind us to the denial of the very thing that defines us,” Turley concluded.
There’s no shortage of reasons to get rid of a radical leftist like Omar, but Turley is right that deporting and denaturalizing her over these comments is not the correct solution in this situation — especially when the law doesn’t allow it.
There’s no need for Republicans to stoop to Democrats’ level and attempt to use — or rather, misuse — the law against a political opponent.
Instead, there’s a better way to do this — and that’s at that ballot box.
Omar was nearly unseated in a primary challenge in 2022, and she’ll have to survive another this time around with the added baggage of her “Somali first” and other comments.
Her anti-Jewish sentiments are more than just problematic rhetoric now that Israel and Hamas have come to blows, and her constituents will surely take that into account.
The American political system has its warts, but it’s well-designed for exactly this type of situation.
Omar deserves to go for a plethora of reasons, but preserving the integrity of the nation demands that Minnesota voters do their own dirty work.
