In an interview released Tuesday with the Nation’s Next Leftpodcast, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) lamented some Americans’ lack of understanding about the U.S.’s refugee resettlement program, stating, “ignorance really is pervasive in many parts of this country.”
A partial transcript via The Nation is as follows:
JOHN NICHOLS: I wanted to start with the statement you made on the night you were elected. I believe it was, “Minnesota doesn’t just welcome immigrants, it sends them to Congress.” Did that just occur to you or did you think about that a little before you said it? Because that was a strikingly good opening line for a congressional career.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Trump came to Minnesota two days before the 2016 elections and that piece really is a significant piece in, in the documentary Time for Ilhan, that’s about my election to the Minnesota House. And there’s this, this question right about what, what happens in a time where someone who was running for president, who eventually becomes president, has used his platform to demonize refugees and immigrants and to tell Minnesotans that they should not be as welcoming and that without their knowledge, these people were just coming into their state. It sort of was a reminder that in Minnesota we didn’t just welcome refugees. We were proud enough to send them to Congress.
NICHOLS: I was a remarkable moment. I remember that Donald Trump and his campaign made a strategic play for Minnesota. They surprised people by winning Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan. But they thought Minnesota might be one of their states as well.
REP OMAR: Yeah.
Beloved 75-year-old math teacher found dead inside Baltimore elementary school
FBI arrests alleged MS-13 member accused in El Salvador pastor’s killing
EXCLUSIVE: ICE says El Paso detention facility will stay open under new contractor after $1.2B deal scrapped
WATCH: NYC terror suspect allegedly seen purchasing fireworks fuse days before attack
Michigan man found guilty of killing wife whose body was discovered in fertilizer tank
Sen. Hyde-Smith set for November clash with Dem foe she once vanquished
9th Circuit upholds first grader’s free speech rights in ‘black lives matter’ drawing case
Special election replacing Marjorie Taylor Greene goes to runoff between Trump-endorsed candidate and Democrat
Trump Says Family Bible from His Mother Has a Powerful Revival Connection
Speaker Johnson touts Trump’s agenda as crucial blueprint ahead of midterms: ‘On the ballot’
Brett Kavanaugh Fires Back as Ketanji Brown Jackson Gets Hostile While Two Share Stage at Event
After Daughter Is Allegedly Killed by Illegal, Mom Opens Victim’s Bible and Finds Incredible Surprise Note
DOJ blasts ‘partisan’ DC Bar complaint against senior Trump official
Trump Appoints Erika Kirk to Board Position Previously Held by Charlie
Fox News Poll: Voters expect AI to transform our lives — but today is not that day
NICHOLS: They came in at the end and Trump had a component in his speech that was quite visceral as regards Somali immigrants, if I’m not mistaken.
REP. OMAR: Right.
NICHOLS: Suddenly you’re elected, and you had this teaching moment. It strikes me that, in watching you, you are conscious of teaching moments and of that opportunity to say something that might cause people to think differently about what’s going on.
REP. OMAR: Right. I think people have a misconception about refugees and, and the process they go through to come to the United States. They certainly have been misinformed about the process of resettlement as well. And the Republicans are really good at misinformation and sort of really reorganizing facts to sort of paint a picture that really eventually is not rooted in fact. We had a person who was running for governor, and he kept talking about ending the resettlement program and making sure that that that wasn’t going to happen.
And I remember I wrote this tweet and I said, you know, I wish that you would take the time to at least educate yourself about how the resettlement program works. There are agencies that run the resettlement program. This is, this is a process that’s run through them. If you end that contract, it’s not that refugees are not going to be resettled, it’s that the state just doesn’t get informed. And so the only leverage you have is that you are part of this contract and you can be part of the negotiations on how many people get resettled in your state.
Beloved 75-year-old math teacher found dead inside Baltimore elementary school
FBI arrests alleged MS-13 member accused in El Salvador pastor’s killing
EXCLUSIVE: ICE says El Paso detention facility will stay open under new contractor after $1.2B deal scrapped
WATCH: NYC terror suspect allegedly seen purchasing fireworks fuse days before attack
Michigan man found guilty of killing wife whose body was discovered in fertilizer tank
Sen. Hyde-Smith set for November clash with Dem foe she once vanquished
9th Circuit upholds first grader’s free speech rights in ‘black lives matter’ drawing case
Special election replacing Marjorie Taylor Greene goes to runoff between Trump-endorsed candidate and Democrat
Trump Says Family Bible from His Mother Has a Powerful Revival Connection
Speaker Johnson touts Trump’s agenda as crucial blueprint ahead of midterms: ‘On the ballot’
Brett Kavanaugh Fires Back as Ketanji Brown Jackson Gets Hostile While Two Share Stage at Event
After Daughter Is Allegedly Killed by Illegal, Mom Opens Victim’s Bible and Finds Incredible Surprise Note
DOJ blasts ‘partisan’ DC Bar complaint against senior Trump official
Trump Appoints Erika Kirk to Board Position Previously Held by Charlie
Fox News Poll: Voters expect AI to transform our lives — but today is not that day
And so it is not that they might not be knowledgeable about this, but they use it as a tool to stir up hate and division. And ignorance really is pervasive in many parts of, of this country. And as someone who was raised by educators, I really like to inform people about things that they might be ignorant to, willingly or unwillingly.
Story cited here.
