![]() Omar started her career as a community nutrition educator at the University of Minnesota, serving in that role in the Greater Minneapolis-Saint Paul region from 2006 to 2009. She majored in political science and international studies at NDSU. Omar attended Thomas Edison High School and was a student organiser. Omar’s father said, “They’re doing this because they feel intimidated by you.” 17-year-old Omar became a citizen in 2000. She remembers gum in her headscarf, being shoved down stairs, and physical taunts during gym class. She was bullied in Virginia because of her Somali appearance and hijab. ![]() Her father and grandfather emphasised democracy during her childhood, and at 14 she served as her grandfather’s interpreter during caucus meetings. Omar’s family came in New York in 1995, then lived in Arlington, Virginia, before moving to Minneapolis, where her father worked as a cab driver and for the post office. She and her family escaped Somalia to escape the Somali Civil War and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp. Her grandpa Abukar led Somalia’s National Marine Transport, while Omar’s uncles and aunts were civil workers and teachers. Her parents, moderate Sunni Muslims opposed to Wahhabism, raised her. Her Benadiri mother Fadhuma Abukar Haji Hussein died when Ilhan was two. Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, was a Somali army colonel and teacher trainer under Siad Barre. She had seven siblings, including Sahra Noor. Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and grew up in Baidoa. She has received several death threats, harassment from political rivals, as well as false and deceptive statements from Donald Trump. Along with Rashida Tlaib, she is one of the first two Muslim women to hold a congressional position. Omar is the first Somali American, first African-born naturalised citizen, and first woman of colour to represent Minnesota in the US Congress. She also supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Omar, a vocal opponent of Israel, has condemned its military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, settlement policy, and what she calls the influence of pro-Israel organisations. Omar, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has pushed for a $15 minimum wage, free healthcare for all, forgiveness of student loan debt, the preservation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, and the abolition of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She represents the entirety of Minneapolis as well as some of its outer-ring suburbs. Omar previously represented a portion of Minneapolis in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019 before being elected to Congress. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is one she belongs to.
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