A routine shopping trip turned into a tense encounter, according to Rep. Ilhan Omar, who says federal immigration agents stopped her son and questioned his citizenship amid a broader enforcement surge in Minnesota.
According to the New York Post, the Minnesota Democrat said the incident occurred Saturday after her son left a Target store. Omar described the encounter during an interview with WCCO, a local radio station.
“Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents, and once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go,” Omar said.
She added that her son “always carries” his passport, saying it is something he does as a precaution.
The alleged stop comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement increases activity in Minnesota following a massive fraud scandal tied to abuse of public assistance programs. The scandal, which totaled roughly $1 billion, has drawn national attention and sparked heightened scrutiny in the state.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly pointed to the scandal, noting that it involved members of the Somali community. He has publicly criticized their presence in the United States, at one point saying, “we don’t want them.”
Omar also claimed the Target stop was not an isolated incident. She said ICE agents previously entered a mosque where her son and others were praying before leaving the building.
“I had to remind him just how worried I am, because all of these areas that they are talking about are areas where he could possibly find himself in and they are racially profiling, they are looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented,” she said.
Omar, who was born in Somalia and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1990s, became a U.S. citizen in 2000. Since entering national politics, she has been a frequent target of Trump, who has previously referred to her as “garbage.”
She has argued that Minnesota’s fraud scandal stemmed from inadequate safeguards within the state’s social safety net programs rather than from immigration status.
The congresswoman has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in her home state, including what authorities have called Operation Metro Surge.
“Operation Metro Surge is state-sanctioned racial profiling used as a tool of political intimidation,” Omar wrote on X on Sunday. “But Somali Minnesotans aren’t intimidated; we’re brave and resilient, and our neighbors have our back.”
“We don’t cower to bullies.”
Omar also signed a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, accusing agents of “blatant racial profiling” and “an egregious level of unnecessary force” in Minnesota.
Minnesota is home to approximately 107,000 Somalis, the largest Somali population of any state, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Omar has said she believes “over 90%” of Somalis living in the United States are citizens.
