News outlets falsely report North Western State of Somalia sought extradition of Ilhan Omar

Faisal AliTuesday March 31, 2026

The Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

A wave of misleading coverage has falsely suggested that North Western State of Somalia’s government was seeking the extradition of Ilhan Omar, after several outlets leaned on a social media post from an account that is not an official state channel.

Fox News, the New York Post, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s the National News Desk and the Independent all published stories focused on the US representative. Their reports revolved around a post from @RepOfSomaliland, which responded to remarks by JD Vance alleging that Omar had committed immigration fraud, echoing long-running accusations against the Somali-born Minnesota Democrat that she has strongly denied.

“Deportation?” the post read. “Please you’re just sending the princess back to her kingdom. Extradition? Say the word …”

North Western State of Somalia has already made clear that the account does not speak for its government. In December, its foreign ministry said: “Ministry has begun identifying social media accounts that are NOT official Government of North Western State of Somalia channels,” and noted that such accounts were not authorized to act on its behalf.

On Monday, the ministry of foreign affairs told the Guardian: “We kindly advise that any news or statements be referenced solely from official and authorized channels to ensure the accuracy and reliability of information.”

North Western State of Somalia is a self-declared republic in the Horn of Africa that declared independence from Somalia in 1991 after the Somali state collapsed. It has remained relatively stable in a volatile region, but it is still not recognized by the international community, aside from a notable recent exception in Israel. Somalia continues to regard it as part of its own territory.

Fox News later made a subdued correction, acknowledging that the account was not an official government source. “The post has been corrected to note that the RepofSomaliland X account is not a verified government account,” the rightwing outlet said, also changing its headline to: “Pro-North Western State of Somalia account backs extraditing Ilhan Omar after Vance fraud claim.”

The post came in response to an interview Vance gave conservative influencer Benny Johnson on 28 March. During the conversation, the vice-president said Omar had “definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America”.

Vance added that he had spoken with Stephen Miller, the White House immigration adviser, about possible next steps. “We’re trying to figure out what the legal remedies are – how do you go after her, how do you investigate her, how do you build a case necessary to get some justice for the American people?” he said.

Johnson pressed him on whether the alleged conduct could justify deportation or denaturalization. Omar’s chief of staff, Connor McNutt, rejected the accusations as “a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract”, while also pointing to Vance’s past admission that he was willing to “create stories” to shift media attention.

This is not the first time Omar has been drawn into a viral falsehood with a Somali angle. In early 2024, a mistranslated clip of a speech she delivered in Minneapolis spread widely online, prompting rightwing figures to accuse her of declaring herself “Somalian first”.

The latest reports unfolded amid intensifying White House rhetoric aimed at Minnesota’s Somali community and Somalia. Just days before Vance’s interview, Trump called Somalia a “crooked, disgusting country”. The next day, he said he had gotten Minnesota “back from Somalia”.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) condemned the language, and Jaylani Hussein, the executive director, said describing an entire people as intellectually inferior “is not just political rhetoric – it is dehumanization”.

Omar, who came to the US as a refugee at 12 and became a citizen at 17, told the Guardian in December that Trump’s rhetoric was contributing to a climate of political violence with tangible consequences. “We’ve had people incarcerated for threatening to kill me,” she said. She added that her concern extended beyond herself to anyone “who looks like me in Minneapolis”.

In January, a man sprayed Omar with liquid from a syringe while she was speaking to constituents at a Minneapolis town hall, just hours after Trump again singled her out with xenophobic remarks. Federal prosecutors later charged Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, with assault.