Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) fired off dozens of tweets this week in response to President Donald Trump’s Tuesday address to the nation, nearly outpacing the president himself in tweets about the southern border wall.
Before Trump’s Oval Office address even began, Omar was exasperated with the fact that Trump would receive “free airtime for propaganda on the ‘humanitarian and national security crisis’ at the border.”
“Two children died in ICE custody last month after 10+ years with no such deaths. There’s blood on your hands,” Omar tweeted Tuesday.
Tonight, while #Trump gets free airtime for propaganda on the "humanitarian & national security crisis" at the border, CHILDREN sit in cold cages in inhumane conditions. Two children died in ICE custody last month after 10+ years with no such deaths. There's blood on your hands.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 8, 2019
“We are literally watching a manufactured crisis, designed to divert attention from this criminal and dysfunctional administration. Stay woke America, Individual-1 is not one to sleep on,” she later wrote. Notably, Individual 1 was a code-name used by federal prosecutors in the charges brought against Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, and it was later made clear that Trump and Individual 1 are one and the same.
We are literally watching a manufactured crisis, designed to divert attention from this criminal and dysfunctional administration.
Stay woke America, Individual-1 is not one to sleep on! #TrumpShutdown #HouseofCards
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 8, 2019
After Trump’s remarks, Omar sought to fact-check the president, specifically taking issue with his numbers on unaccompanied minors who crossed the border and were suspected of having MS-13 affiliations.
“Border apprehensions are at a 45 year low, down 75 percent from 1.6 million in 2000 to 396,579 in 2018. The facts don’t lie, but Trump does. Not one dollar for his vanity wall,” Omar added.
Border apprehensions are at a 45 year low, down 75% from 1.6 million in 2000 to 396,579 in 2018.
The facts don't lie, but Trump does.
Not one dollar for his vanity wall.#TrumpShutdown pic.twitter.com/e5gFKT1rcT
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 9, 2019
Omar has also launched a petition on her website to end “Trump’s shutdown,” writing that federal “employees can’t continue to work without pay, and when they stop showing up for work, we will have a real crisis.”
PETITION: End Trump's shutdown https://t.co/XzLnDDraJ3#TrumpShutdown
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 9, 2019
“Donald Trump’s presidency is a national emergency,” she wrote in another tweet. Since Monday, Omar has referred to Trump’s push for a border wall as a “temper tantrum,” “reckless,” a “scene from House of Cards,” “xenophobic,” an “imaginary crisis,” a “manufactured crisis,” and told Trump to “grow up.”
The Minnesota Republican Party contested Omar’s claims that border security is a “manufactured crisis,” saying that “Democrats need to recognize this as an issue of safety and national security.”
“The number one role a president has is to protect Americans and our homeland, and today’s visit to the southern border by President Trump further illustrates his strong commitment to the safety of this great nation and its people,” Minnesota GOP Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan said in a Thursday press release.
“While Democrats continue to play partisan games with our security, drug dealers, human traffickers, and enemies of this country continue to take advantage of our sovereign border,” she said. “It is time for these games to end and for Democrats to work with President Trump to make America a more secure nation.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ilhan Omar” by Ilhan Omar.
Background Photo “Trump Shutdown” by Ilhan Omar.
More American children died from the flu than those crossing the border. Where is their sympathy?