Trump: Ilhan Omar “Probably” in the U.S. “Illegally”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Nov. 29, 2025) — In a Truth Social post on Thursday, President Trump issued “A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation” to what he called “all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at, along with certain other foolish countries throughout the World, for being ‘Politically Correct,’ and just plain STUPID, when it comes to Immigration.”

He went on to cite the “official United States Foreign population” as “53 million people,” sourced to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 2022, Census reported, the foreign-born population was 46.2 million, an increase of more than 6 million since 2010.

Without differentiating among those legally present in the country; illegal aliens, sometimes referred to as “migrants,” who his administration has been aggressively pursuing for violations of U.S. immigration law and other crimes; and refugees, Trump said “most” people comprising the “foreign population” “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels.”

As to how foreigners here are subsisting, Trump said, “They and their children are supported through massive payments from Patriotic American Citizens who, because of their beautiful hearts, do not want to openly complain or cause trouble in any way, shape, or form. They put up with what has happened to our Country, but it’s eating them alive to do so!”

“A migrant earning $30,000 with a green card will get roughly $50,000 in yearly benefits for their family,” he further contended. “The real migrant population is much higher.”

Trump’s invocation of a “green card” signifies a lawful permanent resident who received permission to reside and work in the U.S. by qualifying in at least one category of eight, including “Refugee or Asylee Status,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

On a webpage updated on September 17, the agency defined a “refugee” as “someone who:

• Is located outside of the United States
• Is of special humanitarian concern to the United States
• Demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group
• Is not firmly resettled in another country
• Is admissible to the United States”

Conversely, it said, “A refugee does not include anyone who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

A link below offers the reader the “legal definition of refugee” set forth in 8 USC 1101 under the title “ALIENS AND NATIONALITY.” There, a “refugee” is defined as:

The term “refugee” means (A) any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, or (B) in such special circumstances as the President after appropriate consultation (as defined in section 1157(e) of this title) may specify, any person who is within the country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, within the country in which such person is habitually residing, and who is persecuted or who has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The term “refugee” does not include any person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. For purposes of determinations under this chapter, a person who has been forced to abort a pregnancy or to undergo involuntary sterilization, or who has been persecuted for failure or refusal to undergo such a procedure or for other resistance to a coercive population control program, shall be deemed to have been persecuted on account of political opinion, and a person who has a well founded fear that he or she will be forced to undergo such a procedure or subject to persecution for such failure, refusal, or resistance shall be deemed to have a well founded fear of persecution on account of political opinion.

In recent years, the term “migrant” has often been used instead of the term “illegal alien.” An “immigrant” can refer to an individual who is in the U.S. legally or illegally.

According to the Pew Research Center as of August 21:

After more than 50 years of rapid growth, the nation’s immigrant population is now in decline.

In January 2025, 53.3 million immigrants lived in the United States – the largest number ever recorded. In the ensuing months, however, more immigrants left the country or were deported than arrived. By June, the country’s foreign-born population had shrunk by more than a million people, marking its first decline since the 1960s.

A new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data finds that, as of June 2025:

• 51.9 million immigrants lived in the U.S.
• 15.4% of all U.S. residents were immigrants, down from a recent historic high of 15.8%.
• 19% of the U.S. labor force were immigrants, down from 20% and by over 750,000 workers since January.

In his post Trump additionally claimed, “This refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America, something that did not exist after World War II (Failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortages, and large deficits, etc.). As an example, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota. Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone…”

From there, he pivoted to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN5), referring to her as “the worst “Congressman/woman” in our Country.”

As in at least one recent post and a public comment made in 2019 during his first term, Trump conflated the suggestion that Omar “married her brother,” an issue probed by several sources who publicly reported their findings, with Omar’s potential illegal entry into the United States.

On September 19, we reported:

Multiple reports appear to show that after divorcing her first husband, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, a marriage reportedly recognized only within Sharia law, Omar married her brother, Ahmed Elmi, in 2009. Her purpose, it is alleged, was not to gain citizenship for herself but rather to expedite Elmi’s admission to the U.S. and attendance at North Dakota State University with taxpayer-funded financial aid.

Born in Somalia, Omar’s U.S. citizenship itself is credibly questioned, as no evidence appears to exist of her naturalization after she and her father arrived in the U.S. as refugees in 1995.

Omar’s biography claims she was legally admitted to the U.S. with her father as a Somalian refugee as a result of the civil war and that she naturalized at age 17 through her father’s naturalization.

As USCIS details, a minor child may obtain U.S. citizenship if his or her parent or parents becomes a citizen before the child turns 18.

On that point, The Post & Email reported:

…a FOIA request sent by former Omar DFL primary challenger AJ Kern to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revealed that the agency possesses no naturalization documents on Omar’s late father, Nur Omar Mohamed.

Omar claims to have become a US citizen at age 17 through her father’s naturalization in 2000. Within days of Kern’s posting of a video detailing that, according to Omar’s own timeline, she could not have derived citizenship in 2000 due to her age (18), Omar publicly altered her stated birth year from 1981 to 1982 without explanation.

Had she been 17 in 2000, when she alleges her father obtained U.S. citizenship, she would have been eligible for derivative citizenship.

As a 2022 primary contender for Omar’s congressional seat and after failing to receive a response from Omar directly, Kern filed a lawsuit to obtain Omar’s proof of US citizenship as well as that of an additional DFL primary challenger, Don Samuels, who was born in Jamaica and likewise failed to respond to Kern’s request for proof of citizenship.

Kern has also filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) regarding her receipt of federal campaign funds under the presumption she is eligible to raise them.

The documentation Kern received from USCIS can be viewed here.

In June 2024, the FEC responded to Kern’s complaint with, “The Federal Election Commission has jurisdiction over the Act and Chapters 95 and 96 of Title 26, U.S. Code. After careful review of your complaint, we have determined that it does not state any acts that appear to constitute a violation under our jurisdiction.”

Omar’s “place of origin,” Trump said after bringing attention to her customary Islamic garb, “is a decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation, which is essentially not even a country for lack of Government, Military, Police, schools, etc…”

On July 22, The Post & Email submitted a report via email and U.S. mail to Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Brett A. Shumate after he outlined in a June 11 memorandum several “enforcement authorities” to include revoking, through a process he termed “denaturalization,” “the citizenship of individuals who engaged in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses; to remove naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States; and to prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport. At a fundamental level, it also supports the overall integrity of the naturalization program by ensuring that those who unlawfully procured citizenship, including those who obtained it through fraud or concealment of material information, do not maintain the benefits of the unlawful procurement.”

We did not receive a response, though one was not expected.