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Ilhan Omar says there are few undocumented Somali migrants in the country
By Lindsay Kornick
Published December 05, 2025
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said Thursday that there weren't many "undocumented" Somali migrants in the U.S. as immigration agents reportedly plan to target Minneapolis in an upcoming operation.
Omar spoke on the "Native Land Pod" podcast about the recent backlash against Somali migrants in her state amid reports of several fraud schemes tied to the community.
Around the same time, a New York Times report claimed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is planning on launching an "intensive immigration enforcement operation" across the Twin Cities.
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A street sign for "Somali St" is pictured with Riverside Plaza in the background in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
She said most members of the Somali community, including herself, are U.S. citizens who arrived as refugees and therefore cannot be treated as "noncitizens."
"[ICE agents] are being met with people who are showing them that they are citizens, and they're having a really hard time and making fools of themselves trying to find a noncitizen or somebody who is undocumented in our community because that is like a needle in a haystack," Omar said.
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She continued, "We don't really have a lot of people who are undocumented. A majority of us came to the United States with a refugee status, which means you come in with documentation, and it means that we get our green card within a year, and within five years, we are citizens. And we have the highest number of immigrants of any kind in the United States when it comes to achieving that citizenship."
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar defended the Somali community ahead of reported immigration raids in her state. (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment.
On Tuesday, the Small Business Administration announced its investigation into a network of Somali groups in Minnesota that it says is tied to a massive COVID fraud scandal highlighting alleged systemic failures by Gov. Tim Walz’s team to properly audit public funds.
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On CNN's "The Lead" Wednesday, Omar was pressed to explain by Jake Tapper how it became "so out of control" in her state.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was pressed on CNN to explain the fraud allegedly perpetuated by Somali groups in her state. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"I think what happened, um, is that, you know, when you have these, kind of new programs that are, um, designed to help people, you're oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate. And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up — they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created," Omar said.
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Omar has been featured heavily in the media this week as she's responded to President Donald Trump's invective against her and Somali-Americans. Omar said Trump — who had called her "garbage" and suggested Somalis return to their home country — was obsessed with her in a "creepy" fashion, and in a New York Times guest essay, she said he was reverting to bigotry because of his policy failures.
"The president’s dehumanizing and dangerous attacks on minority immigrant communities are nothing new," she wrote.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ilhan-omar-says-few-undocumented-somali-migrants-country