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. Fox News Politics: Bound to be gagged Johnson demands Biden visit Columbia University amid anti-Israel occupation Hollywood Star Comes Under Fire for Getting Baptized One Day and Messing with Tarot Cards the Next LeBron to Leave Lakers? His Expression After the Question May Have Just Answered That Biden admin will move to reclassify marijuana as ‘less dangerous drug’ in historic shift: AP GOP lawmakers say MTG’s push to oust Johnson falling flat among voters Police at UNC Chapel Hill detain at least 30 anti-Israel protesters, crowds try to force into buildings We Share the Gospel with Everyone, Because ‘No Case Is Hopeless While Jesus Lives’ House Democrats Furious That Mike Johnson Is Forcing Them to Reveal Their True Colors with Anti-Semitism Vote GOP lawmakers hit with ‘gut punch’ as red state’s Dem governor ekes out win in transgender bill battle White House condemns antisemitism, violent anti-Israel anarchy at Columbia University: ‘No place in America’ MLB to Change Uniforms After Weeks of Uproar: ‘This Has Been Entirely a Nike Issue’ Watch: LeBron Coldly Answers ‘No’ on Whether He’s Confident in His Team After Season-Ending Loss Conservative groups wary of bipartisan House push for college antisemitism monitors Mississippi lawmakers poised to vote on Medicaid expansion plan with work mandate 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.
Story cited here.