Immigrants are “going to be here regardless of what the president says.” Omar Pushes Back on Trump Immigration Rhetoric

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comment that immigrants are “going to be here regardless of what the president says” is drawing fresh attention online, but the fuller context points to a fight over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on Somali communities, not a blanket declaration that immigration law does not matter. Omar made the remarks while criticizing President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Somali and Muslim immigrants and while defending Somali Americans in Minnesota, many of whom are U.S. citizens or lawful residents. In the clip that circulated online, Omar said Trump had long targeted Muslim immigration and added that “most of us are citizens” and that on their passports “it says we are nationals of this country.”

The immediate backdrop is the administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Somalis living in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security announced in January that Somalia’s TPS designation will expire March 17, 2026, with Homeland Security arguing that conditions in Somalia have improved enough that the country no longer meets the legal standard for the humanitarian program. TPS does not create a path to citizenship, but it does shield eligible people already in the United States from deportation and allows them to work legally while the designation is in effect.

That helps explain why Omar said what she said. She appears to have been speaking to two groups at once: Somali immigrants who hold temporary protections and fear removal, and the much larger Somali American community in Minnesota that includes citizens, voters and long-settled families. Reuters reported that Minnesota is home to an estimated 76,000 Somali immigrants, while the AP reported that the number of Somali TPS holders is much smaller — a few hundred, according to a 2025 Congressional Research Service figure cited by AP, though Reuters reported roughly 1,100 current holders plus about 1,400 pending applications in the January termination notice.

In that sense, Omar’s line was less a technical legal claim than a political one: that the Somali community in Minnesota is deeply established and will not simply vanish because of hostile rhetoric from Washington. AP reported that many native Somalis live in Minneapolis and that the administration’s TPS decision landed during a broader federal immigration crackdown in the city, where tensions had already risen after protests over federal enforcement activity.

The viral post circulating with the clip goes further than the sourced facts. It frames Omar’s remark as a vow that Somalis will “refuse to leave” no matter what Trump orders and asks whether she should be deported for allegedly lying on her citizenship application. But the sources reviewed here do not show Omar announcing that anyone plans to defy a lawful deportation order, and they do not provide evidence for the accusation that she lied on her citizenship paperwork. What they do show is that she was responding to Trump’s immigration agenda and arguing that many of the people being discussed are already Americans.

That legal distinction matters. U.S. citizens are not subject to deportation, and for naturalized citizens the government would first have to win a denaturalization case in court before citizenship could be revoked. USCIS says revocation of naturalization applies only on specific grounds, such as illegal procurement or concealment of a material fact, and AP reported last year that denaturalization remains relatively rare even as the Justice Department has moved to prioritize more such cases under Trump. Reuters has also reported that while the administration wants to ramp up denaturalization efforts, the process is lengthy and resource-intensive.

The administration’s side of the argument is that TPS was always meant to be temporary. DHS said Somalia’s conditions have improved enough to justify ending the program, and Trump has linked Somali immigration in Minnesota to fraud allegations and broader claims that his administration is putting “Americans first.” Critics, including civil-rights and Muslim advocacy groups, say Somalia remains dangerous, with armed conflict, al-Shabab attacks and instability still making return unsafe for many people.

For readers trying to pin down the simplest answer to “why is she saying that?”: Omar was pushing back on Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric and on his administration’s move to end protections for some Somalis, while emphasizing that a large share of the Somali community she represents consists of citizens and long-term residents whose place in the United States does not depend on presidential rhetoric alone. The online framing makes it sound like a direct promise to ignore federal law. The fuller context suggests it was a political defense of a community she says is already rooted in the country.