'Married her brother, does nothing but bitch': Who is Ilhan Omar and why Trump is targeting her with racist attacks

US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (C) speaks during a press conference at City Hall following a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School on August 28, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to Minneap (Photo by Stephen Maturen / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

US President Donald Trump reignited controversy over immigration with a personal and racially charged attack on Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar during a rally in Pennsylvania. Mocking her Somali heritage, Trump called Somalia “filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime” and questioned why the United States accepts Somali immigrants. He described Omar as “garbage,” jeering at her identity by saying, “Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is. With her little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch. She’s always complaining.” He also repeated the long-debunked conspiracy claim that “she married her brother in order to get in,” to which the crowd responded by chanting, “Send her back.”

Who is Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar is a Somali-born American lawmaker who fled the country’s civil war as a child before arriving in the United States as a refugee. She became a US citizen in 2000 and built a political career that made history. Omar is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and the first Somali American to serve in the House of Representatives.

Representing Minnesota’s Fifth District, she is known for her progressive politics, including support for social welfare programs, criminal justice reform and a liberal immigration policy. There is no evidence backing Republican claims that she married her brother to obtain US citizenship, which she has repeatedly dismissed as “absolutely false and ridiculous.”

Why Trump is targeting her

Trump has long singled out Omar as a symbol of the immigration policies he opposes. His attacks are part of a broader push to portray immigrants from African and Muslim-majority countries as threats to national security. During the rally, he argued that America should take immigrants from countries like Norway and Sweden instead of what he described as “sh**hole countries,” a term he recently admitted to using in 2018. Trump has also vowed to “permanently pause” migration from what he calls “Third World countries” and to deport individuals he labels a “security risk.”

Trump has also chosen to repeatedly target Omar over an unverified claim about her personal life to question her legitimacy as a lawmaker. During the Pennsylvania rally, he told his supporters, “We ought to get her the hell out! She married her brother … Therefore she’s here illegally,” using the false allegation to fuel chants of “Send her back.” By amplifying this rumour, Trump seeks to cast doubts on Omar’s citizenship and portray her presence in Congress as fraudulent, reinforcing his broader narrative against immigrant lawmakers.

Omar, who supports expanded refugee protections and has openly criticised Trump’s immigration agenda, has become an easy target for his base. By framing her as foreign and illegitimate, Trump aims to energise voters who support hardline immigration restrictions. His rhetoric underscores how Omar’s identity as a Black, Muslim, immigrant woman places her at the center of America’s deepening political divide over migration and race.