- United States
- Ga.
- Letter
Oppose the Trump administration's use of federal law enforcement to target a sitting member of Congress three weeks before her election. Rep. Ilhan Omar has not been charged with any crime. Her home was searched anyway, and Trump has publicly called her a "terrible person" and suggested she should be "sent back to Somalia," a country she left as a child before becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000.
This is not a coincidence of timing. The Justice Department's own longstanding practice discourages overt investigative steps against candidates within 60 days of an election. That norm exists precisely to prevent law enforcement from being turned into a political weapon. Trump has spent years targeting Omar with racist attacks, describing Somali immigrants as "garbage" and calling for her imprisonment without any legal basis. The search of her home fits that pattern exactly.
Congress must not stay silent while the executive branch intimidates an elected colleague and, through her, every constituent she represents. Speak out publicly, demand answers about who authorized this action and why, and make clear that weaponizing federal agencies against political opponents is unacceptable in a constitutional democracy.