A top House Republican called for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to resign Monday for delivering a speech in which her critics say she put Somali interests ahead of American ones.
“Ilhan Omar’s appalling comments about Somalia are a slap in the face to the Minnesotans she was elected to serve and a direct violation of her oath of office,” wrote House Majority Leader Tom Emmer (R- Minn.), in X. “I should resign in disgrace.”
Omar, the first Somali American in Congress, appeared to assure her Somali American constituents that she would do everything in her power to prevent the disputed, separatist Republic of Somaliland from entering into a sea access agreement with Ethiopia, a dead-end country. Sea.
A clip of the Minnesota lawmaker went viral with more than 2.6 million views after being posted on X, with a translation saying Omar had said: “As Somalis, one day we will go after our lost territories.”
The congresswoman claims her comments were lost in translation.
“It is not only biased but completely off-base,” Omar said of the subtitles in a video of her speech shared by the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Somaliland, Rhoda Elmi. “But I wouldn’t expect more from these propagandists.”
Omar claims his comments were lost in translation. AFP via Getty Images
“As long as I’m in Congress, no one will take the Somali Sea,” Omar said during the Jan. 27 speech, according to a translation he deemed more accurate. “The United States will not back others to steal from us. So don’t lose sleep over it.”
Elmi urged House leaders and Democrats to “take note of [Omar’s] public conduct,” arguing that the speech was “improper [of] a United States congresswoman.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) sharply criticized Omar for promising to protect Somalia’s borders while opposing efforts to shore up the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Terrorist sympathizer Ilhan Omar, in her own words: Somali first. Second Muslim. She never mentions the United States,” Greene said. tweeted.
Omar faces a challenge in the Democratic primary for her congressional seat launched by former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels. AP
“She boasts of using her position as a congresswoman to protect the Somali border while our border is invaded by MILLIONS of illegals who are a danger to the United States,” the Georgia Republican added. “These people hate America and are so emboldened by Democrats’ disdain for our country that they don’t even try to hide it anymore.”
The Republic of Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but does not enjoy broad international recognition, not even from the United States. Omar wants to keep it that way.
“No nation-state can survive if its states begin to engage in land lease negotiations with other countries without the consent of the federal government,” he wrote in X. “Somalis in Somalia and in the diaspora are united in that effort and I stand in solidarity with them. No amount of bullying and lies will change that.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn