Expel US Rep. Ilhan Omar
US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) should be expelled from Congress over her "Somalia First" attestations. She violated her naturalization oath of office.
I often cite Dr. Jonathan Turley, a law professor and pundit at George Washington University Law School. He is a Constitutional expert, especially on the First Amendment’s free speech protections. Not a partisan, he puts his loyalty to the Constitution above his politics.
I cite him early and often on many, if not most, legal matters. And I rarely disagree with him.
Until now.
Many have heard the latest outrage (there are many) from US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), the vice chair of the House Progressive Caucus and a notorious, unrepentant anti-semite who refuses to publicly criticize Hamas over their October 7th terrorist attack in Israel. It is well documented that she hates Israel and, by extension, Jews with a passion.
Worse, she associated Hamas and the Taliban - two well-documented terror organizations - with the United States and Israel. And she won’t apologize for it.
“This goes far beyond Omar’s general distaste for Western values, whether it be accusing Israel of hypnotizing the world, claiming that American support for Israel is motivated solely by Jewish money, fighting for lighter sentences for terrorists, or commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks as ‘some people did something,’” wrote the Washington Examiner. The left-leaning Vox details several examples of her incendiary comments.
But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) called for the representative from the “Little Mogadishu” enclave of Minneapolis to be denaturalized and expelled for her most recent offensive “Somalia First” comments. Let’s be fair and place them in context:
“The US is a country where one of your daughters is in Congress to represent your interest. For as long as I am in the US Congress, Somalia will never be in danger, its waters will not be stolen by Ethiopia or others … Sleep in comfort, knowing I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the US system.
"We, as Somalians, love each other... people who know they are Somalians first and Muslim second who protect one another and come to each other’s aid and to the aid of other Muslims too,”
Turley took issue with DeSantis, and he is correct about one thing. The Constitution's First Amendment free speech rights protect her. Also, her oath of office as a Member of the House doesn’t appear to be blatantly violated by her oath by her “Somalia first” statements or obvious allegiances to a corrupt and war-torn country from which she escaped as a youth.
But she took an oath to become a naturalized US Citizen. It reads like this:
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
Five things are going on here, starting with support for the Constitution, but carefully note these words: “. . . entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign . . . state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.”
True, Omar’s “Somalia First” comments, while violating that oath, don’t violate the letter of federal laws that I can find. Neither the Immigration and Nationality Act nor the main criminal code (18 USC) include any penalties for violating the oath (perhaps they should) other than using false or fake documents to circumvent the law, including hiring someone who is not a citizen but claims otherwise.
And never mind the fact that the Biden Justice Department - too busy running out the clock on the statute of limitations over presidential son Hunter Biden’s lawbreaking while chasing January 6th “insurrectionists” or Republicans convicted of “contempt of Congress” - would never prosecute a Democratic member of Congress. But being an inherently political act, the House has plenty of room to expel Omar. “The Constitution gives Congress the power to set its own rules and punish members as they see fit, including expulsion, as long as 2/3 of members agree,” CNN has reported.
“The U.S. Constitution expressly grants each house of Congress the power to ‘punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member,’” reports the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. And you don’t have to be convicted of criminal statutes, either. Just ask recently expelled former US Rep. George Santos (R-NY). He was expelled for actions before he was elected to Congress, many of which he’s been indicted for but not convicted of. In its resolution expelling Santos, the House resolution said that he “must be held accountable to the highest standards of conduct in order to safeguard the public’s faith in this institution.”
Should not Omar be held to the same standard? She was expelled from the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Groundhog Day 2023. She’s not only embarrassed the House with vile, racist comments; she’s equated the United States and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban by stating, “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,” according to House Resolution 76, adopted on a party-line vote. It’s just one of many incendiary comments made by Omar, who voted to expel Rep. Santos.
It is not, and should not be easy to expel a Member of Congress. It will take two-thirds of the House to expel her, and no doubt, as they have before, every House Democrat will stand by one of their caucus’s most notorious and unapologetic anti-semites. It would be better for her constituents to remove her via the ballot this November but don’t hold your breath.
In my humble view, the grounds for expelling Omar are no less severe than Santos’s, if very different. At least Santos’s loyalty to the United States was never questioned. Some of her apparent or alleged lies are legendary in her adopted states, including possible immigration fraud.
While I despise Omar’s blatant racism and Somalia-first loyalties, this is hardly a tit-for-tat escalation of the ever-growing hostilities in a dysfunctional US House of Representatives. But standards are standards and things won’t improve until the chamber’s worst actors are sent packing. I have a few suggestions, starting with Omar.
Do I want the US House spending time on an expulsion when there are many more urgent issues, starting with the border and including a host of national security, spending, and budget issues facing Congress? Good question, but the House must be consistent in cleaning up its sullied chamber. At a minimum, they’d be wise to beef up immigration laws regarding violations of the naturalization oath of office.
Turley’s right that Omar shouldn’t be prosecuted for her vile and turgid speech. But she should be culpable for violating her citizenship oath and removed from Congress.