Republicans smeared Ilhan Omar over a faulty translation — but here’s what she really said

Republican lawmakers and commentators questioned U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s allegiance to the United States — even calling for her to be deported — over a video clip with an inaccurate translation of her remarks from Somali to English.

The translation animating her Republican critics — including Minnesota colleague U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, who called for her to “resign in disgrace” — distorts Omar’s words, according to two independent translations obtained by the Reformer including one by a federally certified court interpreter. (See a transcription below.)

Omar was speaking at the Minneapolis Hyatt Hotel Saturday at a celebration of the recent election in Puntland, a region of Somalia. She spoke about the dispute between Somalia and the breakaway republic Somaliland, which is not recognized by the international community but recently made a sea access deal with landlocked Ethiopia.

Omar told the audience that Somalia would remain united, and that she would use her influence to keep it that way.

Social media posts have asserted Omar said they are “people who know they are Somalians first, Muslims second.”

This led to a wave of attacks about Omar’s failing to state her allegiance to the United States.

“Ilhan Omar’s appalling, Somalia-first comments are a slap in the face to the Minnesotans she was elected to serve and a direct violation of her oath of office,” House Majority Whip Emmer, R-Minn., wrote on X. “She should resign in disgrace.”

Emmer shared a story about Omar’s remarks that was published by the conservative outlet Alpha News, which acknowledged in the text of its article that it had “ not independently verified the accuracy of the translation.”

Neither of the Reformer’s translations show she said “Somalians first, Muslims second.”

Indeed, the term “Somalian” is not used by Somalis, who prefer the term “Somali.”

A devout Muslim like Omar would have faced outrage from the largely Muslim audience had she placed her religion second, according to one translator.

During the remarks in question, Omar spoke of the unity of the Somali people: “Somalis are people who love each other. It’s possible that we might sometimes have disagreements but we are also people who can rely on each other. We are people who are siblings. We are people with courage. We are people who know that they are Somali and Muslim. We are people who support each other.”

In an email to the Reformer, Omar said the attacks are “disingenuous attempts to malign my character and question my loyalty to my home, America.”

(Shortly after taking office in 2019, Omar faced criticism for seeming to accuse supporters of Israel of dual loyalties.)

She responded to Emmer directly: “I am embarrassed for Tom. This is clearly a desperate attempt to garner attention after his failed four-hour Speaker bid last year,” she said, referring to Emmer’s short-lived attempt at the House gavel.

Emmer’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment.

During her recent speech, Omar spoke assertively about her role in American foreign affairs, despite lacking any formal role in foreign policy; she was removed from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last year by Republicans for what she has said were trumped-up charges of antisemtism.

“When I heard that people who call themselves Somalis signed an agreement with Ethiopia, many people reached out to me and said I needed to talk to the U.S. government. They asked, ‘What would the U.S. government do?’ My answer was that the U.S. government will do what we tell the U.S. government to do. That is the confidence we need to have as Somalis.”

That’s far different than what’s been attributed to her on social media, that the “the U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else. They must follow our orders.”

That’s not what she said, according to the transcriptions of her remarks.

Omar’s remarks about the relationship between Somaliland and Ethiopia are not inconsistent with American policy.

The conflict between Somalia and Somaliland is related to an agreement signed last month with landlocked Ethiopia to give it access to the sea by way of Somaliland’s coastline.

The AP recently reported that “the deal has been condemned by regional and international groups, as well as Western countries, which say it interferes with Somalia’s territorial integrity and is causing tensions that could threaten stability in the Horn of Africa region.”

Asked about the conflict and her comments, Omar said she supports longstanding U.S. and Biden administration policy of a unified Somalia.

“I have joined the U.S. State Department in urging both the State of Somaliland and Ethiopia to continue to engage with the U.S., the African Union and other regional partners who oppose that action. We have partnered well with the government of Somalia in combatting Al-Shabab and are in agreement that any recognition of the (agreement) between the State of Somaliland and Ethiopia would be an unacceptable violation of Somali sovereignty,” she said in the email to the Reformer.

In her remarks at the Hyatt in Minneapolis, Omar also spoke of the return of “missing territory” to Somalia in an apparent nod to the push to unite ethnic Somalis across the Horn of Africa, including those living in land controlled by Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya.

Asked if she was calling for Somalia to gain control over those lands, Omar said, “no.”

Like Omar in this case, American elected officials have frequently weighed in on foreign policy debates in their ancestral homelands, be it Israel and Palestine, Northern Ireland or Cuba.

Omar was born in Somalia before her family fled the civil war there. She spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya and is the first African refugee to serve in Congress.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com. Follow Minnesota Reformer on Facebook and Twitter.