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Ilhan Omar says she was unaware of ‘tropes about Jews and money’
Rep. Ilhan Omar is drawing heat again — this time for claiming that she was unaware there are “tropes about Jews and money,” leaving an aide to Sen. Ted Cruz to declare: “Give me a break.”
Omar (D-Minn.), whom House Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was trying to defend herself in a CNN interview Sunday, from accusations that she has made anti-Semitic comments in the past.
”I certainly did not or was not aware that the word ‘hypnotized’ was a trope. I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money. That has been very enlightening part of this journey,” Omar said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“To insinuate that I knowingly said these things when people have read into my comments to make it sound as if I have something against the Jewish community is so wrong,” she continued.
Omar, the first Somali-American and one of the first Muslims elected to Congress, once compared the Jewish state to terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Taliban, and said the relationship between Israel and the United States is “all about the Benjamins.”
Omar’s explanation didn’t go over well with Twitter users.
“Ilhan Omar employed one antisemitic trope in 2012, after which she said learned all about antisemitism ‘from Jewish orgs. She then employed another one in 2019,” Avi Mayer, the former managing director of public affairs and senior spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee, said on the social media site.
“But she didn’t know there are tropes about Jews and money?” he said, linking to her appearance on CNN.
Steve Guest, special advisor for communications for Cruz, was incredulous.
“Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar claims on CNN that she was ‘not aware that the word “hypnotized” was a trope’ and ’wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money.’ Give me a break. That’s BS,” he said on Twitter.
In 2012, Omar tweeted that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel.”
Hananya Naftali, a human rights activist, accused Omar of lying.
“Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is not only an anti-Semite but also a bad liar. ‘I didn’t know there were stereotypes about Jews and money.’ Spare me,” he said.
Dov Hikind, the former state assemblyman from Brooklyn, also spoke out against Omar.
“Ilhan Omar definitely learned a LOT about antisemitic tropes … Omar discovered that if she focuses on ‘Israel’ and ‘Zionists’ instead of ‘Jews’ she can promote the same blood libels and get away with it without looking like an overt neo-Nazi à la Kanye,” he said.
Along with Omar, McCarthy removed Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both Democrats from California, from their spots on the House Intelligence Committee.
Ilhan Omar Claims Republicans ‘Aren’t Really Interested in Upholding the Law’ amid Biden Documents Investigation
Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) on Saturday claimed Republicans are investigating President Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents from his time as vice president as part of a “political game” and not because they care about following security protocols.
“What I find interesting is that Republicans who have defended [former president] Trump after he literally stole classified documents, refused to turn them over, lied about having them, made up some story about how he declassified them, had to have his house raided in order for those documents to be found, are now only interested in investigating Biden, who has cooperated, whose own staff and former staff have themselves turned these documents in,” the progressive Squad member told MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend.
“You have to understand, Republicans aren’t really interested in upholding the law, in following security protocols. What they’re interested in is playing a political game in now only wanting to investigate Biden,” Omar added.
A set of classified records from Biden’s time as vice president were first recovered by Biden’s lawyers on November 2 at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank that served as Biden’s private office from 2017 to 2019, after his time as vice president came to an end.
The White House Counsel’s office then searched Biden’s homes in Delaware this week and discovered “a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings,” the vast majority of which were found in a storage space in Biden’s Wilmington garage, White House lawyers said earlier this week.
Special Counsel Richard Sauber then said Saturday that he discovered five additional pages with classified markings at the president’s Wilmington, Del., on Thursday. Sauber said after Biden’s personal attorneys discovered one classified document at Biden’s home on Wednesday, they ended their search because they did not have the appropriate security clearances to view the materials.
“Because I have a security clearance, I went to Wilmington Thursday evening to facilitate providing the document the President’s personal counsel found on Wednesday to the Justice Department,” Sauber said. “While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel on Thursday to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.
“I’m glad that there is a special prosecutor that’s been appointed to investigate this… because any time there is a deviance in regard to security protocols, that should be taken serious, it should be investigated,” Omar said Saturday.
Meanwhile, The FBI raided Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in August as part of an investigation into the former president for his alleged removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violation of the Espionage Act, according to the search warrant for Trump’s home.
Republicans have questioned why the Biden investigation has seemingly differed from the investigation into Trump.
“We would never have known about the possession of the classified documents were it not for investigative reporting by CBS that somehow got a leak to determine that this had happened prior to the election,” House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) told CNN. “So the administration hasn’t been transparent about what’s going on with President Biden’s possession of classified documents. And we just want equal treatment here with respect to how both former President (Donald) Trump and current President Biden are being treated with the document issue.”
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We need direct talks with Russia and a negotiated settlement | Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Barbara Lee, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and others
Dear Mr President,
We write with appreciation for your commitment to Ukraine’s legitimate struggle against Russia’s war of aggression. Your support for the self-defense of an independent, sovereign and democratic state has been supported by Congress, including through various appropriations of military, economic and humanitarian aid in furtherance of this cause. Your administration’s policy was critical to enable the Ukrainian people, through their courageous fighting and heroic sacrifices, to deal a historic military defeat to Russia, forcing Russia to dramatically scale back the stated goals of the invasion.
Crucially, you achieved this while also maintaining that it is imperative to avoid direct military conflict with Russia, which would lead to “world war III, something we must strive to prevent”. The risk of nuclear weapons being used has been estimated to be higher now than at any time since the height of the cold war. Given the catastrophic possibilities of nuclear escalation and miscalculation, which only increase the longer this war continues, we agree with your goal of avoiding direct military conflict as an overriding national security priority.
Given the destruction created by this war for Ukraine and the world, as well as the risk of catastrophic escalation, we also believe it is in the interest of Ukraine, the United States and the world to avoid a prolonged conflict. For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire. This is consistent with your recognition that “there’s going to have to be a negotiated settlement here,” and your concern that Vladimir Putin “doesn’t have a way out right now, and I’m trying to figure out what we do about that”.
We are under no illusions regarding the difficulties involved in engaging Russia, given its outrageous and illegal invasion of Ukraine and its decision to make additional illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory. However, if there is a way to end the war while preserving a free and independent Ukraine, it is America’s responsibility to pursue every diplomatic avenue to support such a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine. Such a framework would presumably include incentives to end hostilities, including some form of sanctions relief and bring together the international community to establish security guarantees for a free and independent Ukraine that are acceptable for all parties, particularly Ukrainians. The alternative to diplomacy is protracted war, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks.
Russia’s invasion has caused incalculable harm for the people of Ukraine, leading to the deaths of countless thousands of civilians, Ukrainian soldiers, and displacement of 13 million people, while Russia’s recent seizure of cities in Ukraine’s east have led to the most pivotal moment in the conflict and the consolidation of Russian control over roughly 20% of Ukraine’s territory. The conflict threatens an additional tens of millions more worldwide, as skyrocketing prices in wheat, fertilizer and fuel spark acute crises in global hunger and poverty. A war that is allowed to grind on for years – potentially escalating in intensity and geographic scope – threatens to displace, kill, and immiserate far more Ukrainians while causing hunger, poverty, and death around the world. The conflict has also contributed to elevated gas and food prices at home, fueling inflation and high oil prices for Americans in recent months. Economists believe that if the situation in Ukraine is stabilized, some of the speculative concerns driving higher fuel costs will subside and likely lead to a drop in world oil prices.
We agree with the administration’s perspective that it is not America’s place to pressure Ukraine’s government regarding sovereign decisions, and with the principle you have enunciated that there should be “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”. But as legislators responsible for the expenditure of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars in military assistance in the conflict, we believe such involvement in this war also creates a responsibility for the United States to seriously explore all possible avenues, including direct engagement with Russia, to reduce harm and support Ukraine in achieving a peaceful settlement.
In May, President Zelenskiy, despite deadlocked negotiations, reiterated that the war “will only definitively end through diplomacy”, and had previously explained that “any mentally healthy person always chooses the diplomatic path, because he or she knows: even if it is difficult, it can prevent the loss of thousands, tens of thousands …and maybe even millions of lives.”
In conclusion, we urge you to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties, which will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine, and, in coordination with our Ukrainian partners, seek a rapid end to the conflict and reiterate this goal as America’s chief priority.
Pramila Jayapal, Member of Congress
Earl Blumenauer, Member of Congress
Cori Bush, Member of Congress
Jesús G “Chuy” García, Member of Congress
Raúl M Grijalva, Member of Congress
Sara Jacobs, Member of Congress
Ro Khanna, Member of Congress
Barbara Lee, Member of Congress
Ilhan Omar, Member of Congress
Ayanna Pressley, Member of Congress
Sheila Jackson Lee, Member of Congress
Mark Pocan, Member of Congress
Nydia M Velázquez, Member of Congress
Gwen S Moore, Member of Congress
Yvette D Clarke, Member of Congress
Henry C “Hank” Johnson Jr, Member of Congress
Rashida Tlaib, Member of Congress
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Member of Congress
Mondaire Jones, Member of Congress
Peter A DeFazio, Member of Congress
Jamaal Bowman, Member of Congress
Marie Newman, Member of Congress
Alma S Adams, Member of Congress
Chellie Pingree, Member of Congress
Jamie Raskin, Member of Congress
Bonnie Watson Coleman, Member of Congress
Mark Takano, Member of Congress
André Carson, Member of Congress
Donald M Payne Jr, Member of Congress
Mark DeSaulnier, Member of Congress
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and other Democrats arrested in abortion rights protest
Wearing specially made green bandanas with “Won’t Back Down,” they marched from the Capitol to the Court, which has been fenced off for weeks, since shortly after the leak of the draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Within two minutes of their arriving, police began ordering them to “cease and desist.” Instead, they sat on the street, and were one by one led off by officers as they chanted, “The people, united, will never be divided.”
The US Capitol Police tweeted: “Demonstrators are starting to block First Street, NE. It is against the law to block traffic, so officers are going to give our standard three warnings before they start making arrests.”
Capitol Police later said they had arrested 34 people total, including 16 members of Congress.
Among those arrested:
- Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark of Massachusetts
- Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts
- Barbara Lee of California
- Jackie Speier of California
- Sara Jacobs of California
- Ilhan Omar of Minnesota
- Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey
- Andy Levin of Michigan
- Rashida Tlaib of Michigan
- Jan Schakowsky of Illinois
- Madeline Dean of Pennsylvania
- Cori Bush of Missouri
- Carolyn Maloney of New York
- Nydia Velazquez of New York
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York
- Alma Adams of North Carolina
House passes Ilhan Omar’s legislation to combat Islamophobia
The legislation was previously sitting in the House Foreign Affairs Committee for months but was voted out of committee last week as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced increasing pressure from members of her own party to take aggressive action against Boebert for her racist remarks.
Debate for the legislation was interrupted Tuesday night following objections made by Democrats against GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who insulted Omar during his remarks. Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor, who was serving as chair of the session, ruled that Perry’s comment “impugns the patriotism or loyalty of the member of the House” and ruled his remarks “not in order.” Debate continued shortly after Castor’s ruling.
The Biden administration said in a statement it supported this legislation.
“Religious freedom is a fundamental human right. This freedom is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is also part of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Our country’s commitment to defending freedom of religion and belief goes back centuries, and the Administration strongly believes that people of all faiths and backgrounds should be treated with equal dignity and respect around the world,” the statement said.
The vote on the bill in the House comes after progressive Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts introduced a resolution, cosigned by other progressives, that would strip the Colorado Republican of her committee assignments if passed.
Last week, Pelosi dodged when she was asked if she supported that resolution and repeated her call for GOP leadership to punish members of their conference.
The call to have Boebert removed from her committee assignments for her controversial comments is not made in isolation. Threatening violence is the reason why Democrats stripped Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona of their committee assignments earlier this year after incendiary comments or actions they made.
Omar said last week she was “very confident” Pelosi would take “decisive action” against Boebert over the Colorado Republican’s anti-Muslim remarks.
“I’ve had a conversation with the speaker and I’m very confident that she will take decisive action next week,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Tuesday.
CNN’s Kristin Wilson, Betsy Klein and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
Ilhan Omar airs death threat and presses Republicans on ‘anti-Muslim hatred’ | Ilhan Omar
The US politician Ilhan Omar played a harrowing death threat left recently on her voicemail, as she implored House Republican leaders to do more to tamp down “anti-Muslim hatred” in their ranks and “hold those who perpetuate it accountable”.
The Democratic Minnesota representative, one of only a handful of Muslim members of Congress, has been the subject of repeated attacks by conservative pundits and some Republicans in Congress, which she says have led to an increase in the number of death threats she receives.
Recently a video of the first-term Colorado representative Lauren Boebert calling Omar a member of the “jihad squad” and likening her to a bomb-carrying terrorist went viral.
“When a sitting member of Congress calls a colleague a member of the ‘jihad squad’ and falsifies a story to suggest I will blow up the Capitol, it is not just an attack on me but on millions of American Muslims across the country,” Omar said during a news conference on Tuesday. “We cannot pretend this hate speech from leading politicians doesn’t have real consequences.”
She then played the voicemail, laden with profanity, racial epithets and a threat to “take you off the face of this fucking Earth”, which she said was among hundreds of such messages she has reported since joining Congress. Omar said the voicemail was left for her after Boebert released another video on Monday criticising her.
In the grainy recording, a man can be heard saying: “You will not be living much longer, bitch,” and that “we the people are rising up”. He calls Omar a “traitor” and says she will stand trial before a military tribunal.
Omar said: “It is time for the Republican party to actually do something to confront anti-Muslim hatred in its ranks and hold those who perpetuate it accountable.”
Boebert’s remarks were the latest example of a Republican lawmaker making a personal attack against another member of Congress, an unsettling trend that has gone largely unchecked by House Republican leaders.
A video posted to Facebook last week showed Boebert speaking at an event and describing an interaction with Omar – an interaction that Omar maintains never happened.
In the video, Boebert claims that a Capitol police officer approached her with “fret on his face” shortly before she stepped into a House elevator and the doors closed. “I look to my left and there she is, Ilhan Omar. And I said: ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,’” Boebert says with a laugh.
Omar called on the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, to “take appropriate action”. But so far McCarthy, who is in line to become Speaker if Republicans retake the majority next year, has been reluctant to police members of his caucus whose views often closely align with those of the party’s base.
Boebert initially took steps to ease the situation, apologising last week “to anyone in the Muslim community I offended”. But after declining to apologise directly to Omar during a tense phone call on Monday, which Omar abruptly ended, Boebert again went on the attack.
“Rejecting an apology and hanging up on someone is part of cancel culture 101 and a pillar of the Democrat party,” Boebert said in an Instagram video.
So far, McCarthy is taking her side. When asked on Tuesday what he would do if Democrats tried to censure Boebert, McCarthy said: “After she apologised personally and publicly? I’d vote against it.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert suggested Rep. Ilhan Omar was terrorist in anti-Muslim remarks at event
“So the other night on the House floor was not my first jihad squad moment,” Boebert told a crowd. “I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers and he and I were leaving the Capitol, we’re going back to my office and we get in the elevator and I see a Capitol Police officer running hurriedly to the elevator. I see fret all over his face. And he’s reaching. The door is shutting. I can’t open it.”
“What’s happening? I look to my left and there she is, Ilhan Omar, and I said, ‘Well she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine,’ ” Boebert continued. “So we only had one floor to go and I say, do I say it or do I not? And I look over and I say, ‘Look, the jihad squad decided to show up for work today.’ Don’t worry, it’s just her staffers on Twitter that talk for her. She’s not tough in person.”
Boebert’s comments were flagged by the Twitter account PatriotTakes, a left-wing group that researches right-wing extremism and is associated with the liberal PAC MeidasTouch.
CNN has reached out to Boebert and multiple members of the congresswoman’s office for comment but has not received a response.
Boebert said on Friday that she had contacted Omar’s office.
“I apologize to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Rep Omar,” Boebert said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“I have reached out to her office to speak with her directly. There are plenty of policy differences to focus on without this unnecessary distraction,” she said.
Omar said the “whole story” was made up and condemned Boebert for her comments.
“Fact, this buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole story is made up. Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout,” Omar tweeted on Thursday. “Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t funny & shouldn’t be normalized. Congress can’t be a place where hateful and dangerous Muslims tropes get no condemnation.”
On Friday, Omar called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to take action against Boebert.
“Normalizing this bigotry not only endangers my life but the lives of all Muslims,” Omar said in a Friday tweet. “Anti-Muslim bigotry has no place in Congress.”
Democratic leaders called on Boebert to fully retract her comments, saying in a statement that the congresswoman’s “language and behavior are far beneath the standard of integrity, dignity and decency with which the Constitution and our constituents require that we act in the House.”
“Congresswoman Boebert’s repeated, ongoing and targeted Islamophobic comments and actions against another Member of Congress, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, are both deeply offensive and concerning,” said Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn, assistant Speaker Katherine Clark, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar.
The Democratic leadership also called on McCarthy to act.
“Leader McCarthy and the entire House Republican Leadership’s repeated failure to condemn inflammatory and bigoted rhetoric from members of their conference is outrageous,” they said. “We call on the Republican Leadership to address this priority with the Congresswoman and to finally take real action to confront racism.”
CNN has reached out to McCarthy’s office for comment but has not received a response.
Two members of the House Republican caucus, Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have previously been censured or stripped of their committee assignments in the wake of incendiary incidents.
This story has been updated with a statement from Democratic leadership.
CNN’s Eva McKend and Lauren Fox contributed to this report.
Minneapolis ‘on edge’ over outcome of Derek Chauvin trial, Ilhan Omar says | George Floyd
As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd headed into its second week, the Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar said residents remain “on edge” about the outcome.
On Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, Omar was reminded that few trials involving police officers result in conviction, and asked: “Are you and your city prepared for the possibility of a hung jury or a not-guilty verdict?”
“The community is on edge about that,” Omar said. “We have seen justice not delivered in our community for many years. I think that there is a lot of confidence in [state] attorney general Keith Ellison and the prosecutors in this case, but we are all eagerly awaiting to see how this trial shakes out.
“It’s been really horrendous to watch the defense put George Floyd on trial instead of the former police officer who’s charged with his murder.”
Floyd, 46, died last May when Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest. The killing sparked international protests against police brutality and racial injustice. The vast majority of protests were peaceful but in Minneapolis and other cities some became violent.
Chauvin faces charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty. Three other officers will face separate trials.
On Monday, prosecutors are expected to call police department chief Medaria Arradondo as a witness. It is rare, if not unheard of, for a police chief to testify against a former officer. Experts have said Arradondo’s testimony might open the door to more chiefs being called in future.
“He is going to tell you that Mr Chauvin’s conduct was not consistent with Minneapolis police department training,” prosecutor Jerry Blackwell told jurors in his opening statement. “He will not mince any words. He’s very clear. He will be very decisive: that this was excessive force.”
Arradondo’s testimony is expected to be a powerful tool for prosecutors as they seek to refute the defense claim that Chauvin’s decision to kneel on Floyd’s neck was in keeping with use-of-force guidance.
Dr Cedric Alexander, a former police chief and public safety director of DeKalb county, Georgia, told the Guardian this week calling Arradondo was a “pretty remarkable move on the part of the prosecution”.
“It’s very rare that you’re going to see a chief either appear for the defense or the prosecution,” he said. “But each one of these kinds of events brings its own set of circumstances. And in this particular case, where you have a knee to the neck and it’s being questioned, ‘Was that trained technique?’ To be able to have the chief of police … to under-oath testify is clearly going to be of importance.”
Laurie Robinson, a former assistant US attorney general who co-chaired Barack Obama’s Taskforce on 21st-Century Policing, which was launched after the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, said: “The chief is under tremendous pressure.
“This may be the hardest police chief job in the country at this point, between the tensions around this trial, pressures from the community dealing with the aftermath of the George Floyd death, the calls for changes in the department and the protection of the community that’s dealing with rising gun violence and crime.”
Arradondo will not be the only Minneapolis officer to testify that Chauvin’s actions strayed from department policy. Lt Richard Zimmerman, who leads the homicide department, testified on Friday that in four decades on the force, he had never been trained to restrain an arrestee with a knee to the neck.
“If your knee is on a person’s neck, that can kill them,” he said. “Once a person is cuffed, the threat level goes down all the way. They’re cuffed, how can they really hurt you?”
Floyd was handcuffed before police forced him to the ground.
“I saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger, if that’s what they felt,” Zimmerman said. “And that is what they have to feel to use that level of force.”
Zimmerman was among 14 officers who released a letter to Minneapolis residents a month after Floyd’s death, saying they “wholeheartedly condemned” Chauvin’s behavior.
Many in the city found the first week of the trial traumatic, as witnesses spoke and video of Floyd’s death was shown.
“It’s been really hard,” Omar told CNN. “I think the one part that stayed with me is the fact that everyone who took the witness stand said they felt helpless. That is a feeling that we know really well here in Minneapolis when it comes to police abuse.
“…[The trial] has just unearthed so much trauma for for many of us. But we have each other. And we’re gonna get through it.”
Ilhan Omar: The media is missing the point on the border crisis
“I think that there are some failures that are taking place,” the Minnesota congresswoman told CNN’s Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter on “Reliable Sources” Sunday. “And it’s really important for us to show the basic humanity and treat the causes of migration in the region.”
As of Saturday, more than 5,000 unaccompanied children were in US Customs and Border Protection custody, according to documents obtained by CNN. This news comes as President Joe Biden’s administration attempts to quickly devise solutions to address the evolving immigration situation.
The media largely has focused on the number of unaccompanied children at the border. But Omar is urging media outlets to address the root causes of the immigration crisis and focus on “cruel and contradictory” foreign policies.
The conversations around immigration is currently centered around “gaining political points,” Omar said.
“It’s not about the safety of Americans,” she added.
Republicans are ramping up their attacks on Democrats over the ongoing crisis at the border. Last week, they introduced a new ad campaign that accused Biden of opening the border instead of focusing on opening schools and businesses.
Omar took a stand of her own week, wrote a letter to Biden’s Director of Domestic Policy, Susan Rice and Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, urging the Biden administration to issue an Executive Order announcing a plan to phase out contracts between ICE and state, county, and local jails and prisons.
On Sunday, Mayorkas declined to provide a timeline for when the Biden administration will open new facilities capable of handling the surge of unaccompanied children at the southern border.
— CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez and Michael Warren contributed to this report.