Trump’s State of the Union sparks clash with Ilhan Omar over Somali community remarks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address erupted into a sharp confrontation Tuesday night after he accused members of Minnesota’s Somali American community of large-scale fraud, prompting Rep. Ilhan Omar to interrupt the speech from the House floor and denounce his claims as lies.
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Trump, speaking before a joint session of Congress, singled out Minnesota as “the most stunning example” of what he called systemic corruption linked to government aid during the pandemic era. “When it comes to the corruption plundering America, there has been no more stunning example than Minnesota — where members of the Somali community have taken an estimated $19 billion from American taxpayers,” he said.
He escalated his rhetoric by describing Somali immigrants as “pirates who ransack Minnesota,” warning that what he termed open borders and unchecked immigration had imported cultural and legal problems into the United States.
Omar, a Democrat who represents Minneapolis and is one of the first Somali American members of Congress, shouted back from the chamber: “That’s a lie! You’re a liar!” Her outburst briefly disrupted the address, drawing gasps in the gallery and a ripple of murmurs across the House floor. She later accused Trump of bearing responsibility for the deaths of two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — killed during a recent federal operation in her Minneapolis district, calling the president a “murderer.”
The charged exchange underscored the combustible politics around immigration and public integrity that have long polarized Minnesota and national debates. Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest Somali diaspora — estimated between 60,000 and 80,000 people — many of whom arrived as refugees during Somalia’s civil war and famine in the early 1990s and are now U.S. citizens or legal residents.
Trump’s $19 billion figure drew immediate scrutiny. Media reviews of public records indicate the number aligns with the total federal funding allocated to Minnesota for state programs since 2018 — not a confirmed tally of fraudulent losses. While Minnesota has seen high-profile fraud prosecutions in recent years, including pandemic-related cases, no public accounting supports the president’s sweeping characterization of the Somali community as responsible for billions in theft.
The rhetoric marked one of the most confrontational moments of Trump’s address, framing his pitch on border enforcement and immigration as a matter of national security and civil order. His remarks also revived a familiar clash with Omar, a frequent critic who has accused Trump of demonizing immigrant communities and endangering constituents through policy and language. On Tuesday night, their confrontation unfolded in real time, turning a nationally televised address into a pointed referendum on immigration, disinformation and representation.
For many Somali Americans in Minnesota, the stakes are both political and personal. The community — rooted in Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding suburbs — has built hundreds of small businesses, expanded civic organizations and won local offices over three decades. Yet it has also weathered waves of suspicion and stereotyping, often intensifying during national security scares, election cycles and public corruption scandals, whether or not community members were implicated.
As the evening’s heat cooled, the contours of the dispute remained clear: a president leveraging an explosive claim to argue for stricter immigration and enforcement, and a lawmaker from the targeted community challenging the accuracy and implications of that claim. With Trump’s language sure to reverberate in Minnesota and beyond, the episode set the stage for renewed battles over immigration policy, accountability for pandemic-era fraud and the politics of blame at the highest levels of government.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
