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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) rallies with fellow Democrats before voting on H.R. 1, or the People Act, on the East Steps of the U.S. Capitol March 08, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
As Alabama GOP Calls for Ilhan Omar's Expulsion From Congress, Minnesota Dem and Her Allies Hit Back
"Well, the Klan has spoken."
Aug 28, 2019
Rep. Ilhan Omar hit back against the Republican Party of Alabama Tuesday after party leaders at a weekend meeting approved a resolution calling on the state's delegation to initiate proceedings to expel the Minnesota Democrat from Congress.
The resolution was introduced by state Rep. Tommy Hanes, a Republican from Alabama's 23rd state House district, because of what he described to The Washington Post as Omar's "disloyalty" to the U.S. The resolution, which asks the state's congressional representatives to use the Constitution's Article 1, Section 5 to expel Omar, passed during the party's retreat in Auburn.
"Well, the Klan has spoken," tweeted CAIR Arizona executive director Imraan Siddiqi.
For her part, Omar replied to the news by reminding the Alabama GOP that the U.S. is a democracy and pointing out that she won her election with "78 percent of the vote."
"If you want to clean up politics, maybe don't nominate an accused child molester as your Senate candidate?" Omar said, referring to former Senate candidate and alleged predator Roy Moore, a two-time Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court who was removed from office in 2003 and suspended in 2016 on six ethics violations and whose 2017 Senate campaign imploded under accusations of misbehavior.
Moore joined the fray on Wednesday, saying on Twitter that he supported the resolution and that Omar "should go back to Somalia from whence she came" in language echoing President Donald Trump's July call for Omar and fellow Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to go back to the "broken and crime infested places from which they came."
In a statement, Muslim Advocates public advocacy director Scott Simpson decried the Alabama GOP's resolution.
"Having a state political party officially adopt such a hateful, dishonest resolution is a troubling escalation of the ongoing effort to vilify American Muslims," said Simpson. "The text of the resolution reads like a laundry list of the most common anti-Muslim stereotypes: that Rep. Omar is un-American and anti-Semitic, that she disrespects the troops, that she is an ungrateful immigrant, and that she sympathizes with terrorists."
"These meritless slurs are constantly hurled at American Muslims in public life in order to silence and discredit them," Simpson said, adding that the Alabam's targeting of Omar represents "attacks on an entire community."
"They will not work," said Simpson. "When American Muslims in public life are attacked because of their faith, Muslim Advocates and countless Americans of conscience will stand up for what's right."
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Rep. Ilhan Omar hit back against the Republican Party of Alabama Tuesday after party leaders at a weekend meeting approved a resolution calling on the state's delegation to initiate proceedings to expel the Minnesota Democrat from Congress.
The resolution was introduced by state Rep. Tommy Hanes, a Republican from Alabama's 23rd state House district, because of what he described to The Washington Post as Omar's "disloyalty" to the U.S. The resolution, which asks the state's congressional representatives to use the Constitution's Article 1, Section 5 to expel Omar, passed during the party's retreat in Auburn.
"Well, the Klan has spoken," tweeted CAIR Arizona executive director Imraan Siddiqi.
For her part, Omar replied to the news by reminding the Alabama GOP that the U.S. is a democracy and pointing out that she won her election with "78 percent of the vote."
"If you want to clean up politics, maybe don't nominate an accused child molester as your Senate candidate?" Omar said, referring to former Senate candidate and alleged predator Roy Moore, a two-time Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court who was removed from office in 2003 and suspended in 2016 on six ethics violations and whose 2017 Senate campaign imploded under accusations of misbehavior.
Moore joined the fray on Wednesday, saying on Twitter that he supported the resolution and that Omar "should go back to Somalia from whence she came" in language echoing President Donald Trump's July call for Omar and fellow Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to go back to the "broken and crime infested places from which they came."
In a statement, Muslim Advocates public advocacy director Scott Simpson decried the Alabama GOP's resolution.
"Having a state political party officially adopt such a hateful, dishonest resolution is a troubling escalation of the ongoing effort to vilify American Muslims," said Simpson. "The text of the resolution reads like a laundry list of the most common anti-Muslim stereotypes: that Rep. Omar is un-American and anti-Semitic, that she disrespects the troops, that she is an ungrateful immigrant, and that she sympathizes with terrorists."
"These meritless slurs are constantly hurled at American Muslims in public life in order to silence and discredit them," Simpson said, adding that the Alabam's targeting of Omar represents "attacks on an entire community."
"They will not work," said Simpson. "When American Muslims in public life are attacked because of their faith, Muslim Advocates and countless Americans of conscience will stand up for what's right."
Rep. Ilhan Omar hit back against the Republican Party of Alabama Tuesday after party leaders at a weekend meeting approved a resolution calling on the state's delegation to initiate proceedings to expel the Minnesota Democrat from Congress.
The resolution was introduced by state Rep. Tommy Hanes, a Republican from Alabama's 23rd state House district, because of what he described to The Washington Post as Omar's "disloyalty" to the U.S. The resolution, which asks the state's congressional representatives to use the Constitution's Article 1, Section 5 to expel Omar, passed during the party's retreat in Auburn.
"Well, the Klan has spoken," tweeted CAIR Arizona executive director Imraan Siddiqi.
For her part, Omar replied to the news by reminding the Alabama GOP that the U.S. is a democracy and pointing out that she won her election with "78 percent of the vote."
"If you want to clean up politics, maybe don't nominate an accused child molester as your Senate candidate?" Omar said, referring to former Senate candidate and alleged predator Roy Moore, a two-time Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court who was removed from office in 2003 and suspended in 2016 on six ethics violations and whose 2017 Senate campaign imploded under accusations of misbehavior.
Moore joined the fray on Wednesday, saying on Twitter that he supported the resolution and that Omar "should go back to Somalia from whence she came" in language echoing President Donald Trump's July call for Omar and fellow Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to go back to the "broken and crime infested places from which they came."
In a statement, Muslim Advocates public advocacy director Scott Simpson decried the Alabama GOP's resolution.
"Having a state political party officially adopt such a hateful, dishonest resolution is a troubling escalation of the ongoing effort to vilify American Muslims," said Simpson. "The text of the resolution reads like a laundry list of the most common anti-Muslim stereotypes: that Rep. Omar is un-American and anti-Semitic, that she disrespects the troops, that she is an ungrateful immigrant, and that she sympathizes with terrorists."
"These meritless slurs are constantly hurled at American Muslims in public life in order to silence and discredit them," Simpson said, adding that the Alabam's targeting of Omar represents "attacks on an entire community."
"They will not work," said Simpson. "When American Muslims in public life are attacked because of their faith, Muslim Advocates and countless Americans of conscience will stand up for what's right."
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