Ron DeSantis doesn’t just want Ilhan Omar out of the U.S. Congress, he just plain wants her out of the U.S.
The Florida governor called Tuesday for Ms. Omar’s expulsion in reaction to a video in which the Minnesota Democrat reportedly said in Somali that she was “Somali first” and would look out for the interests of her native country in the U.S. Congress.
“Expel from Congress, denaturalize and deport!” the former presidential-primary hopeful said on X while reposting a video of Ms. Omar speaking to a group in Minneapolis.
According to the post containing the video that Mr. DeSantis included in his own post, Ms. Omar “tells Somalians that she is Somalian first, Muslim second, and … [no, American wasn’t even mentioned]. Oh, and she says that her primary job in Congress is to protect Somali interests.”
Ms. Omar, who came to the U.S. as a refugee but has made repeated statements that conservatives call anti-American and ungrateful, called the translation misleading earlier this week but did not elaborate herself on how. She did, however, repost a Somali analyst who backed her claim of mistranslation and provided a transcript himself.
According to Abdirashid Hashi, Ms. Omar told her audience “we are sisters and brothers, supporting each other, people who know they are Somalis and Muslims, coming to each other’s aid and aiding their brothers and sisters.”
She does not mention being a naturalized U.S. citizen, as she must be to serve in Congress. As part of the naturalization procedure, foreign-born citizens take an oath pledging allegiance to the U.S. and foreswearing their native country.
“Many people called me and said, ‘Ilhan, you should talk to the U.S. government; what is the US government going to do about this?’” Ms. Omar said in reference to an accord between a breakaway province of Somalia and rival-neighbor Ethiopia.
“My response was: the US government will do what we ask it to do. We should have this confidence in ourselves as Somalis … This country is one where one of your daughters sits in Congress. While I am in Congress, no one will take Somalia’s sea. The United States will not back others to rob us. So, do not lose sleep over that, O Minnesotans. The lady you sent to Congress is on this,” Mr. Hashi’s transcript states.
Others on X called Mr. Hashi’s translation both “watered down” and “just as damning.”