Posted on January 31, 2024

Ilhan Omar Is Part of a Larger Problem

Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, January 31, 2024


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There are few authentic leftists. Universalism, egalitarianism, and open borders are leftist principles that weaken any group that adopts them. When a figure is a “progressive” for America but a nationalist for his own people, he’s not a progressive at all. He’s simply a nationalist for his own side.

Ilham Omar is a prominent example. On January 27, she spoke — in Somali — to a group of Somalis in the United States. Her speech would thrill any Somali nationalist. Though there is some dispute over the translation, the main items are not in doubt. One translation quotes her:

Her comments are actually revanchist. “Somalia is one. We are brothers and sisters, and our land will not be balkanized. Our lands were taken from us before, and God willing, we may one day seek them, but what we have now will not be balkanized.” America is a place where “one of your daughters sits in Congress” so she can make sure “no one will take Somalia’s sea.” A more watered-down translation is here:

Even in this translation, she refers to herself as a Somali and to the president of Somalia as “the president.”

Florida governor and former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis called for Rep. Omar to be expelled from Congress, denaturalized, and deported.

When Rep. Omar took office, people celebrated that an immigrant had been elected to Congress. Like all naturalized citizens, she took an oath: “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.” She should be deported for lying.

Ilhan Omar joins unions calling for an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, December 14, 2023. (Credit Image: © Jim Lo Scalzo/EFE via ZUMA Press)

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) said Rep. Omar should “resign in disgrace” and said her comments were a slap in the face of her constituents. However, she won re-election with almost 75 percent of the vote. The district was formerly represented by Keith Ellison, himself a former black separatist. The district is mostly white, but it is overwhelmingly liberal and voters are unlikely to be bothered by a refusal to put America first. Rep. Omar claims the translation is wrong and corrected her critics.

Candace Owens supported her:

Even if we accept the most innocent translation of Rep. Omar’s remarks, she sees herself as Somali, sees her job as protecting Somalia, and wants the United States to take her country’s side in any territorial dispute with Ethiopia. American interests don’t matter.

If the GOP is upset, it could expel Rep. Omar, as it did Republican George Santos, but don’t count on the GOP. Its candidate to replace Rep. Santos is Mazi Pilip, a veteran not of the United States military but of the Israeli Defense Forces. She is an Ethiopian Jew, born in Ethiopia, and might well support Addis Ababa in a dispute — no matter what American interests might be.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sounded very much like Rep. Omar in his determination to defend his ethnic homeland’s interests. In a speech to AIPAC, he said that his surname Schumer, which means “guardian,” was given to him “for a reason.” He said he would “unflinchingly, unstintingly, and with all of my strength, be Shomer Yisrael, a guardian of Israel.”

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), who served in the Israeli Defense Forces (along with the United States Army), wore his IDF uniform to Congress after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. After he did this, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) put a Palestinian flag outside her office. The House censured her later for allegedly “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said Hispanics should get a racial exemption from immigration laws “because we are standing on native land and Latino people are descendants of native people.” If “from the river to the sea” is code for the destruction of Israel, saying America is “native land” is an implied call for the elimination of America. There was no call to censure her. Of course, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s argument was not a progressive claim but a statement of racial interests. Unlike Rep. Omar and Sen. Schumer, she was not declaring allegiance to a foreign country.

In 2003, immigration activist Manuel de la Cruz, a former illegal immigrant and naturalized American citizen living in California, was elected to the Mexican federal congress. He said he would “give immigrants [to the United States] a voice in this country [Mexico].” Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) called for a boycott of his own state in 2010 to protest a state law to contain illegal immigration. Luis Gutierrez represented Chicago in Congress for 16 years until 2019, where he worked tirelessly for illegal immigrants and against border security. Polls of Hispanics ranked him the most influential Hispanic after Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. His motto: “I have only one loyalty, and that’s to the immigrant community.”

Just this year, Mexican President Lopez Obrador scoffed at Texas governor Abbot for proposing a law that would let Texas judges deport illegal immigrants. He said Mr. Abbot “is going to lose support because there are a lot of Mexicans in Texas, a lot of migrants.” He added: “We don’t have to do much, just tell our compatriots not to vote for the governor of Texas or for lawmakers of the Republican Party.” The Mexican government deliberately promotes dual citizenship so Mexicans can vote for Mexican interests in American elections. Mexican government officials occasionally take part in demonstrations against immigration laws.

Americans are entitled to representatives who look out for our country. There should be no display of foreign flags in congressional offices. No one with dual citizenship should serve in Congress. No naturalized citizen should have dual citizenship.

In 2019, a member of Congress warned against “the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country.” The member was criticizing dual US-Israeli citizens in Congress. What would she say about that today? That member was Ilhan Omar. Whatever she may think about the United States, she is a right-wing nationalist for Somalia.

About Gregory Hood

View all posts by Gregory Hood
Mr. Hood is a staff writer for American Renaissance. He has been active in conservative groups in the US. You can follow him on Gab.