The Trump administration forcefully rebutted Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Tuesday, rejecting her office's claim that ICE officials stopped her son in an alleged act of racial profiling, the Washington Examiner reported.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons blasted Omar for her "ridiculous effort to demonize" immigration agents, stating there is "no record" ICE ever pulled over her son and that she has offered "no proof."
Omar claimed Sunday that federal immigration agents stopped her son outside a Target store Saturday and required proof of citizenship. She said he showed a U.S. passport and was released after agents verified his status.
"ICE has absolutely ZERO record of its officers or agents pulling over Congresswoman Omar's son. It speaks volumes that Congresswoman Omar is leveling this accusation with absolutely zero proof," Lyons told the Examiner.
Omar's office escalated its rhetoric Tuesday, telling the Examiner that it was "no surprise that an agency known for disappearing people also can't keep its records straight."
"The congresswoman's son and others were pulled over by ICE, racially profiled, and forced to prove their citizenship with a passport," Omar's spokeswoman wrote in an email to the outlet.
The Trump administration has significantly increased immigration enforcement activity in Minnesota under an initiative called Operation Metro Surge.
Authorities have dispatched additional ICE agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in recent weeks to pursue undocumented immigrants, particularly within Somali and Latino communities.
But Lyons called the allegations of racial profiling "disgusting, reckless, and categorically false."
"A person's immigration status makes them a target for enforcement, not their skin color, race or ethnicity," Lyons told the Examiner.
Omar, a Somali American, has been the subject of federal scrutiny over immigration fraud allegations — backed by surfaced documents — that she married her brother to help him gain entry to the United States, claims she denies.
Border czar Tom Homan told Newsmax last week that "there was immigration fraud involved."
"I'm pulling the records now, pulling the files and we're looking at it," Homan said.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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