Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s 'white-supremacist rhetoric' echoes past anti-Jewish language

WASHINGTON, DC: Rep Ilhan Omar drew a sharp parallel between Stephen Miller’s Thanksgiving post on mass migration and N*zi-era rhetoric during a December 7 appearance on CBS’s 'Face the Nation.'

She said Miller’s comments, along with what she views as his white-supremacist messaging, remind her of how N*zis dehumanized Jewish people in Germany.

Ilhan Omar criticizes Stephen Miller’s stance on immigrants

During a CBS 'Face the Nation' interview, host Margaret Brennan asked Rep Ilhan Omar about Stephen Miller, the architect of the president’s immigration policy.

She read Miller’s Thanksgiving post: “No magic transformation occurs when failed states cross borders. At scale, migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions. and terrors, of their broken homelands.”

Brennan then asked Omar, "What do you make of this argument of failure to assimilate and sort of ruining America? How do you understand this?"

Omar responded that Miller’s white-supremacist rhetoric reminded her of how N**is described Jewish people in Germany. "I mean, when I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the N*zis described Jewish people in Germany."

She noted that many immigrants, including Jewish, Irish, and Italian people, faced harsh discrimination when trying to enter the United States.

"And you know, as we know, there have been many immigrants who have tried to come to the United States who have turned back, you know, one of them being Jewish immigrants."

"We know the way that people were described who were coming from Ireland, Irish immigrants. We know the way in which people were described back then, when there were Italian immigrants," she added.

Omar emphasized, "We know the way that people were described who were coming from Ireland, Irish immigrants. We know the way in which people were described back then, when there were Italian immigrants." 

Ilhan Omar defends Somali community

Ilhan Omar defended the Somali community in her Minnesota congressional district after President Trump recently called them “garbage.”

The Somalia-born Democrat said, “It's disgusting. It's completely disgusting. These are Americans that he is calling garbage. And we feel like there is an unhealthy obsession that he has on the Somali community, and an unhealthy and creepy obsession that he has with me.”

She made the remarks in response to Trump’s insults during a cabinet meeting, where he also said Minnesota’s Somali community should be sent back to Somalia. Trump added, “Look at their nation. Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other. Look, these Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country, billions and billions.”

She added, “I think it is also really important for us to remember that this kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president.”

Then Brennan asked, "And 95% of the Somalis in your state are US citizens." Omar responded, "Yes."

Brennan also asked, "Just for clarity there. But the president has restricted all immigration processing, including asylum claims from Somalis already on US soil, along with 18 other countries. ICE reports it has rounded up about 19 people, and they put out press releases with the images of about five of them that they say are the worst of the worst. Is that the entirety of the crackdown to date?"

Omar added, "Yeah, so far we know of the people that they have picked up in Minnesota, about five of them are Somalis, and from what I have read and from the people that I've spoken to, all of them had already had orders of removal. So these are not people who are undocumented, but people who have committed crimes and who should have already been sent out of the country."