Rep. ILHAN OMAR Talks Terror In Minneapolis And Becoming American
The Adam Friedland Show
0:01 your family got the visa
0:03 to move to the states and to leave the refugee camp in Kenya.
0:07 Um, also you learned how to scrap.
0:09 Is that where you learned how to scrap?
0:11 No, I mean I've got I've got six older siblings.
0:14 I've got three brothers.
0:15 So,
0:16 and you've never lost one fight.
0:19 Could you You could beat up anyone in Congress.
0:21 I don't I don't want my brothers being upset about this, but
0:25 you beat they they butts.
0:27 I don't know why I said it that way.
0:28 You beat your brother's butts
0:31 to a little girl.
0:32 We'll leave that to the imagination.
0:34 You were a little though.
0:36 I was.
0:36 But
0:37 did you do it in front of girls their age?
0:40 No.
0:40 Thank god.
0:41 No.
0:41 They would have never lived that down.
0:42 Yeah.
0:42 But I rarely fought girls.
0:44 I mostly fought boys.
0:46 She's such a gangster.
0:47 I'm sorry.
0:49 So show.
1:05 Oh my show.
1:18 Hello and welcome to the Adam Freelance Show.
1:20 It's Adam, guys.
1:22 Uh, first off, I have to say this Tampa, Florida this weekend.
1:25 Please come see me.
1:26 Sides Players Comedy Club and also uh in a couple weeks I'll be in Los Angeles,
1:31 California at the Region Theater.
1:32 We sold out the first show.
1:33 They've added a second.
1:35 Enough of that.
1:36 My guest this week is Ilhan Omar,
1:39 representative from Minnesota and the House of Representatives.
1:42 Um, since her election to the House uh in 2019,
1:46 Omar has become one of the most well-known,
1:48 oftentimes maligned politicians in America today.
1:51 I really enjoyed getting to know her backstory.
1:54 I knew some of it, but um it's really unlike any other member of Congress.
1:59 At 8 years old, civil war broke out in Somalia
2:02 and she escaped to Kenya to a refugee camp.
2:06 And at 12, she moved to Virginia
2:08 with her family before eventually settling in Minneapolis.
2:11 Since her election to Congress,
2:13 she's also been subject to constant harassment and even death threats.
2:18 Um, there have been Republican candidates
2:20 for office who have called for her execution.
2:22 Multiple people have been imprisoned for plotting her assassination.
2:27 President Trump has targeted her repeatedly
2:30 throughout her entire time in Congress.
2:32 He's advocated for her expulsion
2:34 from the country among just other derogatory whatever.
2:39 funnily enough, we had this scheduled twice before on the calendar and uh
2:44 those two times were the days that New York City had blizzards this year.
2:50 Islamophobic.
2:49 It's the Jewish God is mad at me.
2:52 Hashem is mad at me.
2:53 The first two times,
2:54 uh she had extensive security detail that was provided by Congress.
2:59 She was the only member of Congress that had it
3:01 and they needed access to do full security sweeps of the studio.
3:06 on Friday when I asked her team uh if they needed access
3:11 this weekend uh they said that Speaker Johnson has revoked that security.
3:17 You know, I had a bunch of questions prepared for the congresswoman
3:20 about what it's like for a person to endure all that.
3:25 Uh but what I could tell immediately is that she's genuinely just
3:30 unafraid or and unfased or at least she seems like she is.
3:35 I I don't think many people could do that.
3:38 Um I think it takes a really special person to do that.
3:41 Uh so here's my interview.
3:43 We do a funny bit up top.
3:45 If you're still watching, she said it was better than Hassan.
3:51 Just for the record.
3:52 Ladies and gentlemen, Congresswoman from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar.
4:00 This is our third attempt at this.
4:03 It is.
4:04 How are you?
4:05 I Do you think that this is cursed?
4:07 Do you think we're cursed?
4:09 You know, there's always weather issues.
4:11 No, we've had two blizzards from Minnesota.
4:13 So, it's just
4:14 in New York City, we've had two blizzards and those were
4:17 both on the day that you were supposed to come.
4:19 Yeah.
4:19 Well, welcome to our situation in Minnesota.
4:22 Yeah.
4:22 Do you like it there?
4:23 It It seems plenty cold.
4:25 No.
4:27 Yeah.
4:27 But as Prince said, it keeps the bad people away.
4:30 One thing that kind of is a little bit
4:32 upsetting to me is that enemy of the show, Mr.
4:34 Hassan Hassan Peaker, uh, got you.
4:38 He he snuck in there and he gave you a tea that everyone it's become a meme.
4:44 Hassan got some storebought bottled tea that was warm and everyone's like,
4:48 "Wow, he's such a great guy." So,
4:51 it's one of my favorites, though.
4:53 Fine.
4:53 But what I I I've done one better.
4:56 Okay.
4:56 I've gotten uh It's a big challenge.
4:58 I've got an authentic Somali tea.
5:00 We're gonna do a cooking segment.
5:01 Late night talk show stuff.
5:03 Can we get Can we get the boys out here
5:06 and we're gonna do a We're going to do a segment called Somali tea.
5:10 Okay.
5:11 Where we're actually going to make Somali tea.
5:12 We're going to make Somali tea.
5:13 You're going to teach me how, but I'm also going to spill some Somali tea.
5:18 Okay.
5:18 All right.
5:19 Sounds good.
5:19 I don't know if you
5:20 I don't know if Trump will approve of this, but What do you mean?
5:24 Well, I heard Donald Trump's been getting fat.
5:27 It's like that kind of thing.
5:28 We're spilling tea.
5:30 Hurry up, guys.
5:31 She's not sure about the show yet.
5:33 We got to really win her over with this Somali tea.
5:36 Did you hear it from Trump?
5:38 No.
5:38 No, we're not.
5:39 You can't believe Okay.
5:40 I'm just saying we're not going to do racism.
5:42 No.
5:42 Like, I'm just saying your tea can't come.
5:46 No.
5:46 Listen, sis.
5:47 We're spilling the tea and it's going to be piping hot.
5:50 These things need to be grind.
5:51 Would you have a
5:53 No, we No.
5:53 So here, here are the leaves.
5:56 Special the but the cardamon needs to be broken and
6:00 Oh my god, I look like an idiot, guys.
6:03 What do I turn this on?
6:04 Extra hot.
6:06 Do we have water?
6:07 You need water?
6:08 Oh, behind me.
6:09 Oh, okay.
6:10 So, yeah.
6:11 From a very Yeah.
6:12 Look, look how expensive this looks.
6:14 Huh?
6:17 Yeah.
6:17 Wow.
6:17 This is just I feel like a Jimmy Fallon, huh?
6:21 Well, maybe I can serve a little piping hot tea because I was on somalespot.com.
6:30 Okay.
6:29 And I I heard that the truth about that Ashra guy on Tik Tok
6:34 is that uh he's rich because uh he
6:37 and his brother work for own an NGO in Somalia.
6:43 Oh,
6:42 but you didn't hear that from me.
6:47 Okay.
6:46 Do you get it?
6:47 It's like T.
6:48 I got it.
6:49 Okay.
6:52 I don't a little bird.
6:54 I'm struggling trying to keep these things open.
6:57 It's fine.
6:58 We're we're we're good to go.
6:59 Well, that's so so what a dash of clove.
7:03 Yeah.
7:03 Looks like you put cinnamon cardamon.
7:05 It needs to be broken up, but Okay.
7:07 Okay.
7:07 Just just does anyone
7:10 a little birdie told me that the president of Somali land Abd
7:14 Raman Muhammad Abdullahi has announced
7:17 a sweeping cabinet reshuffle involving new appointments,
7:21 dismissals, and transfers across key ministries.
7:24 But you didn't hear that from me, sis.
7:27 Okay.
7:28 Yeah.
7:29 Wow.
7:30 Okay.
7:29 We were putting you to work.
7:31 You're the guest.
7:33 This is going to be delicious, I'm sure.
7:35 I don't know if you heard this, but Ethiopia and Eratraa
7:38 have been saying that they have more beautiful lighouses than us.
7:42 Well, we have the longest coast in Somalia, so I don't I don't know.
7:46 Yeah.
7:46 And I heard Eratraa said she had breathing issues, but really it was a nose job.
7:54 Oh my god, we're being so bad right now.
7:57 So that's our bit.
7:58 Somali tea.
7:59 We're going to This is by far the stupidest thing we've ever done on the show.
8:07 Can someone take the hot plate and then pour us the tea?
8:11 Yeah.
8:10 If you lift that, I can lift this.
8:13 No, wait.
8:13 No,
8:17 this is terrible.
8:18 This is very dangerous.
8:20 I'll move the whole table.
8:21 You grab that.
8:22 There we go.
8:23 Wow.
8:24 I'll leave this there,
8:25 guys.
8:25 That our first cooking segment has been an absolute winner.
8:29 Justin, don't put it in a solo cup.
8:31 It's going to melt it.
8:32 That's what Kale told me.
8:33 No, we have these.
8:35 I was about to say, do we have muds?
8:37 I've really enjoyed uh learning about you for this episode.
8:40 And I think that you're obviously Do you feel
8:42 like you're one of the most well-known members of Congress?
8:47 I mean,
8:50 sure.
8:49 Would it be fair to say that you're you're used as a political cudel?
8:53 And yeah, I I might be a little bit of a boogeyman for the MAGA guy.
8:57 Yeah.
8:57 Yeah.
8:58 And it started pretty much immediately if I remember correctly.
9:01 Yes.
9:01 Right after I like won my primary race for the state house,
9:06 so nobody should have actually known who I was.
9:09 But
9:09 well, I Well, how did Maroon 5 find out who you were?
9:13 I don't know if any of you know this, but in the girls like you video,
9:17 uh you are along with uh Ellen Degenerous.
9:21 Yeah.
9:21 Gado JLo if I could be on Cardi B.
9:26 Yeah.
9:26 Yeah.
9:26 I guess when when like when did you come to national
9:29 prominence or something like that was obviously before you were in Congress.
9:32 Well, when I won my um state house race um they said
9:40 I was the first Somali legislator to be elected in the United States.
9:45 And I think people didn't distinguish the fact that I was a state legislator
9:50 and not a member of Congress really.
9:52 And so everybody was congratulating me.
9:54 I was getting phone calls from like world leaders of the United States.
9:59 Yeah.
10:00 And people were going to the capital trying to find um my office and
10:07 so everyone is very stupid.
10:09 Well, how was it like a just a very generous headline?
10:12 Did they not?
10:13 Yeah.
10:13 I I think that people don't most people like don't know that
10:18 state legislators and you know because you're called
10:22 a representative when you're a state legisle, right?
10:25 And when you're in the house, you're also called the representative.
10:28 So people I think just kind of confuse the two.
10:31 And you beat a lady who wanted to lower the voting age to 12.
10:34 Is that correct?
10:35 Well, she was there for 44 years.
10:37 So yeah,
10:37 but she said that 13 year olds should vote.
10:40 She had some interesting ideas.
10:42 I I think that's cool.
10:43 I think kids rule.
10:45 I think the maximum voting age should be 18.
10:47 I have a pretty smart 13year-old and I'm not sure she's ready to vote.
10:51 I think she is.
10:52 I think the kids rock and teachers suck and there's too much homework.
10:57 13.
10:58 I That was my
10:59 They don't They don't give as much homework as they
11:01 used to when when I was in high school now.
11:04 Oh, boohoo.
11:05 That rocks.
11:06 What do you mean?
11:07 I don't know.
11:07 It's sad for a parent.
11:08 And I'm like, I want the same torture I went through for my kids to go through.
11:13 Did you have them at home for CO?
11:15 I did have them home for CO.
11:16 Four, four kids.
11:18 You were in the government and you had four kids at the crib.
11:21 Yeah, it was it was wild.
11:23 Were you losing your mind?
11:25 Uh, it was actually more entertaining because I I remember like I was one time
11:29 I was cooking lunch and my youngest daughter who was in elementary at the time,
11:35 I think she was in third grade, was doing PE through the computer and like Yeah.
11:41 So I just like she was on her laptop at the dining room table
11:45 and I turned around and she was doing jump jacks and I was I Yeah,
11:52 it was a very weird thing to see her do and then like to hear
11:56 everyone else like doing it through the noise that was coming from the computer.
12:00 That must have stink though that you can't like see your friends.
12:04 It was painful.
12:05 Yeah.
12:06 Yeah.
12:06 Do you think but it was good bonding time for I think the four of them.
12:09 Do you think we afford kids enough sympathy for that?
12:12 I think we only talk about their like gendered like surgeries,
12:16 but I don't think we talk about the fact
12:17 that it they went through a tough time growing up.
12:20 No.
12:21 Yeah.
12:22 I mean, there's a lot of like social interaction that was
12:25 missed for a lot of the kids that went through
12:27 co are they they're weird.
12:29 No,
12:31 weird.
12:31 You lost your mom young.
12:33 I did.
12:34 So, uh you were two.
12:36 Two-ish.
12:36 Yeah.
12:37 So, uh I guess like how did you teach
12:39 you had to teach yourself how to be a mother?
12:42 I did.
12:42 Yeah.
12:42 I mean, and I think you know I was
12:44 actually just talking to my youngest daughter um about this.
12:48 I you know I was raised by my dad and grandpa and they were
12:52 both strict but they like to talk to us as if we were adults.
12:58 Uh-huh.
12:59 Um, and so we, you know,
13:00 were free to have opinions and debate with them
13:03 and it wasn't like they didn't consider it disrespectful.
13:09 Yeah.
13:08 Uh, and you know, we had a lot of like autonomy as as kids.
13:12 And so that's kind of how I raised my kids.
13:14 It's like they they know what not to do.
13:17 Um, but they're also like very independent.
13:21 And thank you, Josie.
13:26 very hard.
13:27 I appreciate it.
13:29 Great timing.
13:31 Let's What's the in Somalia?
13:35 What's the cheers?
13:36 Oh, I we don't do cheers, but Oh, cuz it's No.
13:39 Yeah.
13:40 Haram.
13:41 Yeah.
13:41 Well,
13:42 it didn't make it into our vocabulary.
13:44 Yeah.
13:44 Uh I burned my tongue.
13:48 So,
13:48 maybe salute.
13:51 Sal.
13:51 Yes.
13:51 We We were colonized by the Italians, so there's a lot of Italian influence.
13:55 Yeah.
13:55 One thing when you were talking about your father
13:56 that kind of I mean my my parents
13:59 moved to America as well and I like had to kind of communicate American culture.
14:03 I know you moved here as a child.
14:05 Yeah.
14:05 But like beyond being a single dad,
14:07 he also had to was raising his kids in this alien culture.
14:11 Yeah.
14:12 And I you know there's like a a really cute part part of your book
14:16 where you talk about like where you want to wear like cute clothes.
14:18 Yeah.
14:19 In high school.
14:20 Yeah.
14:20 And he was like fine with that but he's like but no kissing.
14:23 Yeah.
14:23 If you kiss, I'm I'm out.
14:26 I'm out on that, you know.
14:28 Yeah, he was out on a lot of things.
14:30 Yeah, me too.
14:31 I remember in sixth grade I I my parents got me regular
14:35 underpants and then sixth grade you have to start changing for gym class.
14:40 Yeah.
14:39 And so I asked my parents if I can get boxers.
14:41 And my dad was like, "Do you why would a boy care about
14:45 his underpants?" And I was like, "I don't know.
14:47 People are calling me gay.
14:48 I I don't know.
14:49 I don't I don't I'm not gay." Yeah.
14:51 And he's like, "Do you have body dysmorphia?" I'm like,
14:53 "What does that mean?" So, I had boxers for pajamas and I used to just
14:59 They do go from zero to 100.
15:01 Immigrant parents, nothing makes sense to them.
15:04 Yeah.
15:05 It's It's really
15:05 I do still have a little bit of that even
15:07 though like I've I've I've been here for over 30 years.
15:10 I still do have like the little bit of the immigrant parent.
15:13 My kids are like, "Okay."
15:16 Yeah.
15:15 Relax.
15:16 Like we were joking.
15:17 But you had to learn American.
15:19 Yes.
15:20 We're hopping around a lot because I want to get into your story before that.
15:23 But what were the things that you could kind of educate?
15:26 Was it the show Bay Watch?
15:28 We I I mean I could watch anything because my dad
15:32 didn't have any context to like what was on TV,
15:36 what was appropriate or not appropriate and he also had to work a lot.
15:39 So he wasn't really home.
15:42 Yeah.
15:41 Um and so I I watched like Family Matters and a lot.
15:46 Yeah.
15:46 You were raised on URL taught you.
15:48 I I was raised on everything that would come on TV after I got off school.
15:52 So just the TV was just on all the time and like but but I didn't speak English
15:59 and I was struggling um because the only words when
16:02 I came at the age of 12 that I knew.
16:04 Did I do that ver?
16:07 No, I would learn that.
16:08 I know your first words.
16:09 It was hello and shut up.
16:11 Hello, shut up.
16:11 Um and that's that's not fun.
16:14 Um when that's the only words you know in sixth grade.
16:17 So
16:17 that's so cute.
16:19 Yeah.
16:19 Yeah.
16:19 Maybe.
16:21 But your teacher wrote something in your yearbook that I thought was adorable.
16:24 I don't want to misquote it, but it said like
16:27 Ilhan like age 11.
16:28 Hello.
16:29 Shut up.
16:29 Age 12.
16:30 Hello.
16:31 My name is Ilhan.
16:32 Nice to meet you.
16:33 Yeah.
16:34 It's like it makes me want to cry.
16:35 It's so cute.
16:36 It went Mr.
16:37 Miller.
16:37 It was very Yeah, that was very cute.
16:39 So what like when did I suppose like
16:42 when did you first feel feel American, you know?
16:48 I don't I don't know if there's a moment I I I believe when I could
16:56 communicate and like navigate life um and feel
17:01 like just like one of the other kids.
17:03 Maybe when I felt like I was American maybe that was like 14, 13, 14.
17:09 That's fast.
17:11 Yes.
17:10 Cuz you came here at 11.
17:11 No,
17:12 12.
17:12 12.
17:12 Mhm.
17:13 So in two years you learned English and
17:15 I was pretty fluent within like 3 to 6 months.
17:18 And you learned Baywatch.
17:19 You learned your Yeah.
17:20 I would watch the TV with the um with the captions on and then
17:25 my sister and I would just have the dialogue that they were having on TV.
17:33 Yeah.
17:32 Um and that was kind like it helped I
17:34 guess not to develop a strong accent as well.
17:38 Um but yeah, like I I I think much of my English
17:44 um before, you know, I I got into my formal education um was like context based.
17:52 Yeah.
17:52 All my non-American like family learned uh learned it from friends.
17:59 Yeah.
17:59 And they'd be like, "Adam, you're such a chandelier.
18:01 You're so sarcastic." I'm like, "Yeah, it's true.
18:04 I am.
18:05 I'm not definitely not a Ross.
18:07 I wish I was a Joey a little bit sometimes.
18:10 Nobody wants to be a Ross.
18:13 Ross.
18:13 What a schmuck.
18:14 I know.
18:15 I also don't know if I could handle a Joey.
18:18 Joey?
18:18 Why he's so stupid?
18:21 Yeah.
18:20 Joey's like you feel like Yeah.
18:22 Like you could toss him away.
18:25 Yeah.
18:25 It would be too painful to hang out with.
18:27 It was fun while it lasted, Joey, but you're not you're no thinker.
18:31 I need someone more.
18:32 We could talk for an hour.
18:33 Yeah.
18:33 Yeah.
18:34 Yeah.
18:34 And I'm I'm a conversationalist, so I'd like people who could hold.
18:38 And Joey would be like, "I thought you were a Somalia." Yeah.
18:41 You're like, "Somalian?
18:43 What's wrong with you, Joey?
18:44 How do you even have a license to drive?
18:47 You shouldn't be allowed to vote.
18:48 You're spoken about so much,
18:49 but I don't think people understand how much of a journey your life has been
18:54 and potentially how it's made you the person you are today,
18:58 right?" Which is a person that's like, "Fuck you.
18:59 I'm not going anywhere." You know?
19:03 Yeah.
19:02 We're born in Moadishu.
19:04 How old were you when the civil war broke out?
19:07 Eight.
19:07 Eight.
19:07 What were your memories of Somalia before that?
19:10 Well, this is the thing that people
19:12 usually get upset about because they're like,
19:13 "Oh, she just glorifies her childhood and like my childhood was pretty normal."
19:18 Like not being in a war.
19:20 That sounds pretty nice.
19:21 The parts where that weren't where that wasn't Yeah.
19:24 part of my my life.
19:25 Um I grew up in a very loud loving um home.
19:34 I I my my mother it's it's fascinating story culturally um in in Somalia
19:43 the the tradition is that if you get married you have two options.
19:49 either you have your own home with you know your wife
19:54 um and your kids or if you don't have enough resources um
20:00 you move your the husband moves his wife in with his family
20:06 and the in-laws yes got to be annoying well or beautiful
20:10 it yeah it depends on who the in-laws are um and my mother was
20:15 the um firstborn of her family and she wanted to help her dad um economically.
20:27 She wanted to help make sure her siblings were raised well.
20:30 And
20:30 she was an ethnic minority too for she was she's of Yemen um heritage.
20:35 And um and so she was very adamant um that any
20:41 suitor had to agree to move in with her family.
20:47 Oh.
20:46 Which was a cultural no.
20:48 Oh.
20:49 Um, and so my dad when supposedly she was uh there
20:54 was this coffee shop that he would frequent after work and she
20:58 would come by that coffee shop um to go home
21:02 and he it was he said it was love at first sight.
21:05 He wanted to know who this woman was and
21:09 um and started to show he figured out where she worked and started to show
21:12 up at her job and kept asking um to talk to her and she wasn't interested.
21:18 Um but eventually said yes and he wore her down.
21:22 He wore her down and um the the then
21:26 she made her demand that you know if they were
21:29 to get married he had to move in and that was
21:32 I suppose a hard choice for my father but he was in love with
21:36 her mother
21:37 with her mother and father and her siblings.
21:39 I know.
21:41 Um and uh and he said yes and I think you know as
21:46 it would be it was probably one of the best choices he made.
21:49 Um, and so he moved in and we were born in my grandfather's house.
21:56 My grandmother died before I was born.
21:59 So my mom had younger siblings that she had
22:01 to help take care of as she was having kids.
22:04 And so I grew up with my aunts and uncles as long,
22:07 you know, along with my siblings.
22:08 And so it was it was a it was a full house.
22:11 And you were the youngest, too.
22:12 I'm the youngest of seven.
22:14 Yeah.
22:15 Wow.
22:15 Yeah.
22:15 being a member of Congress and understanding what it's like
22:18 to be a child in in a war torn environment.
22:22 What was that like as a an eight-year-old?
22:24 I mean, what are your memories of that?
22:27 It's distorting because like I said, I had a pretty normal childhood.
22:33 My family was like middle class,
22:37 upper middle class for Somalia standard in the 80s.
22:41 Yeah.
22:41 Um, you know, I again,
22:44 I lived with my mother before she passed who had full-time employment,
22:51 my father, my grandfather, my aunts and uncles who uh were all teachers.
22:57 Um, and so there was multiple salaries coming into our one household.
23:02 Um, and so we were pretty comfortable.
23:04 And then, you know, we went from one day just being
23:07 a normal kid going to school and playing and the next day,
23:11 you know, kids around your age are walking
23:14 around with rifles and there's bombs dropping and 38y olds.
23:20 Well,
23:20 39 year olds.
23:22 Eight year olds,
23:23 eight nine year olds.
23:24 I know.
23:24 I seem like an eight-year-old.
23:27 I look eight, but I'm 39.
23:30 Okay.
23:30 when you have a vote.
23:32 I mean, I know that we're in a new kind of military operation,
23:36 whatever the that is.
23:37 Do memories of like hearing gunfire, do they inform your kind of morality
23:44 or your understanding of like what the what it means, what war is kind of?
23:48 Yeah.
23:48 I mean, I I do think of war through the lens of someone who survived one.
23:52 Yeah.
23:52 Um, and I understand that the l the lasting impacts um of of war.
24:03 Yeah.
24:03 Um, it's the displacement.
24:04 It's the trauma that you can't get rid of.
24:07 I mean, I still have PTSD.
24:09 Um, you know, there's certain environments that that trigger it.
24:15 Um, and I, you know, it's it is, I think for a lot of people,
24:19 especially a lot of people in the United States,
24:22 unless you've been, um, a service member and been in combat zone,
24:27 like people can't fully comprehend.
24:30 Um, so they they're just like, "Oh, there's there's war." And, you know,
24:33 things get back to normal and everybody's fine.
24:36 And, you know, like nobody accounts for the destruction that happens.
24:40 Nobody accounts for the misuse of education that that um instability brings,
24:46 the the loss of jobs,
24:47 the loss of infrastructure, um the the loss of your memories,
24:53 um the the connection to to family, to your history.
24:56 Um you know, I get a lot of people who are like,
24:59 "Yeah, you should be grateful that you know,
25:01 you you have this beautiful life." I am
25:03 grateful enormously that I have this beautiful life,
25:06 more so, but it it comes with a cost.
25:09 Um, you know, and and I think that a lot
25:12 of people because we we we are in America,
25:18 a lot of people just see people who come
25:20 here seeking a new life um and just are like,
25:23 why aren't you just really excited?
25:25 It's like, yeah, they are excited,
25:27 but they also have the the the human capacity to miss what was lost.
25:33 Yeah.
25:33 um you know, my my great-g grandandmother um who
25:36 also uh lived with us and and helped raise us.
25:41 I didn't see her um for many years after the the war.
25:46 She passed away without me saying goodbye to her.
25:50 Um and I would have loved to have been by her side
25:53 when she passed away as I was with my grandfather and father.
25:56 I think there's this notion of what a refugee
25:59 is in learning about you and researching for this.
26:03 I kind of obviously there's a there's a xenophobic thing happening which
26:10 is like for the first time I was I'm 30 or 39.
26:14 39.
26:14 It sounds so I'm 40 and
26:17 I'm turning 44 this year so I don't I don't know why you hanged up on the
26:20 We're the same age.
26:22 I'm older five.
26:23 It sounds like
26:24 we're the same age and you're in Congress.
26:27 You would have been in eighth grade when I was graduating high school.
26:30 So, you're okay.
26:31 Yeah.
26:31 We You would have You would have bullied me probably.
26:35 No, I was very much opposed to bullies.
26:36 We would have been best friends obviously.
26:38 I would have fought your bullies for you.
26:40 No, I didn't have any because I was so funny.
26:42 All the bullies were laughing so much at my funny jokes.
26:45 Uh, no.
26:47 But, uh, I thought that's how people become funny is because they get bullied.
26:53 100%.
26:52 100%.
26:56 Wow.
26:56 Are we having a therapy session?
26:58 Is that what's happening right now?
26:59 Yeah.
26:59 I'm going to get on the couch.
27:00 Uh uh.
27:02 Well, no.
27:03 I I think there's obviously there's it seems like
27:06 this is the most xenophobic I've ever seen of the country.
27:10 But also there's a notion
27:12 even more so Yeah.
27:13 than his first term.
27:15 Oh, I mean it's not him.
27:16 It's just it's people, you know.
27:19 But on the the other side,
27:21 I think there's a notion of refugee like there's
27:24 there's those like posters like refugees are welcome here.
27:27 Almost as if like um you know that like uh you're lesser than kind of even
27:34 in in the liberal sense like oh please
27:36 come like come you know like come sit down.
27:39 It's well meaning though.
27:40 It's well meaning for sure but it's it's like
27:42 could be patronizing.
27:43 Being a refugee has equipped you as an adult and is a is
27:49 Oh yeah.
27:49 I mean my my resilience is because I was a refugee
27:53 and I you know like the you were supposed to come
27:55 twice and your security detail was supposed to do an extensive sweep.
28:00 You had you had a like secret service level security um
28:05 because there are multiple people
28:07 that are incarcerated for plotting assassinations.
28:11 Um, obviously we saw at the town hall recently that uh Yeah,
28:17 but you you charged.
28:19 You were like
28:20 I did.
28:20 I thought he
28:20 You're like what, Yeah,
28:23 you charged him.
28:24 Yeah.
28:24 I mean, I I did the only thing I knew how to do.
28:27 What dawned on me was like, yeah,
28:28 because like she walked to Kenya as an 8-year-old
28:32 or a nine-year-old, you know, like uh
28:35 close enough.
28:35 I didn't walk all the way to Kenya, but yes.
28:38 Well, you don't say say walk to them.
28:40 Make it sound worse.
28:42 What did you What?
28:43 You got a What?
28:44 You got a piggyback ride?
28:47 You went to What do you Come on.
28:49 Just let me do the Let me do the Jewish thing.
28:52 She walked to Kenya and then seeing me Republican candidates for office calling
28:58 for your execution and seeing the president uh fixated on you.
29:02 Uh I think it's fair to say.
29:04 Is that where um your bravery comes from?
29:07 I mean, or am I off base?
29:10 What I mean and I I I think the in in the refugee
29:16 story I think or or any sort of displacement
29:20 story through traumatic events is that is you know that old
29:25 adage of you know what doesn't break you makes you stronger.
29:29 You know there are people who do end up being broken
29:32 right like um but I think it did the opposite for me.
29:36 I think it gave me um a sense of like
29:40 I survived all of these things that could have destroyed me,
29:44 could have killed me.
29:45 Um and so what is the point of having fear?
29:50 Um so I I kind of really don't have um the normal sense of of fear.
29:57 I mean I I have irrational fear of certain things, but I don't snakes.
30:01 I'm a little like claustrophobic.
30:03 Me too.
30:05 Yeah.
30:04 Yeah.
30:05 And I think that like because we had to hide under beds
30:09 um you know when the when the bombs would
30:12 drop and you know um or like try to hold on to the side of a wall just to make
30:17 sure if it collapsed that you could crawl out.
30:19 Um but I think those tight corners being put in those tight
30:23 corners I think maybe helped me develop just a little bit of claustrophobia.
30:27 I feel bad for saying me too but yeah.
30:29 Yeah but I mean there's different things that happen right?
30:32 Yeah.
30:32 I don't know.
30:33 Yeah.
30:33 Yeah.
30:34 But I think you know when you when you are, you know,
30:38 eight and you are crossing multiple checkpoints
30:42 and people have guns pointed at you,
30:46 you know, like it you just develop a sense of like I got through that, you know,
30:52 what what else could happen.
30:56 Reminds me a lot of when my dad wouldn't
30:57 get me boxer shorts when I was in sixth grade.
31:00 You know, we've both been we have different stories
31:02 and we've been through I've been through a lot.
31:05 Yeah.
31:05 So, it's very traumatic.
31:06 I didn't get I didn't hit puberty until a uh basically after 10th grade.
31:13 So, we've both been through a lot, you know.
31:16 Isn't that not the normal age for I know your grievance politics.
31:19 No, it's not the normal age.
31:20 Some of in sixth grade, some of them are like a with beards and we're like,
31:25 how are we the same grade?
31:26 Two kids had sex in sixth grade and I went home and cried.
31:29 I don't know why I'm telling a sitting member of Congress this, but I
31:32 cried and I remember both their full names still to this day.
31:35 I cried.
31:35 I said, I thought we were just kids.
31:38 Sex.
31:39 You saw them.
31:39 Did they tell you about it?
31:41 What's I just heard the context of this summer after sixth grade.
31:45 You can beat both their names.
31:46 El had sex.
31:49 Oh god.
31:50 And I cried.
31:52 They're going to see they're going to sue you for sharing this.
31:54 So tell us about Kenya.
31:55 Did you show with Malik Obama ever?
31:58 No, I'm just Do you ever do you ever link up with Malik Obama?
32:04 You know who he is?
32:04 His brother.
32:06 Yeah.
32:05 He's like Mao.
32:06 Yeah.
32:07 No.
32:07 No.
32:07 I don't.
32:08 He's a hater.
32:08 He's hating from Kenya.
32:10 He's just tweeting and hating.
32:11 I think we live in the same region of Kenya.
32:14 But
32:15 uh No.
32:16 So your mentor in Kenya was Malik Obama.
32:20 Is he related to Barack Obama or is that like a common last name?
32:25 Is it like Kim in Korea?
32:26 I don't know.
32:27 Your family got the visa
32:29 to move to the states and to leave the refugee camp in Kenya.
32:33 Um, also you learned how to scrap.
32:35 Is that where you learned how to scrap?
32:37 No, I mean I've got I've got six older siblings.
32:40 We got three brothers.
32:41 So,
32:42 and you've never lost one fight.
32:45 Could you You could beat up anyone in Congress.
32:48 I don't I don't want my brothers being upset about this, but
32:51 you beat they they butts.
32:53 I don't know why I said it that way.
32:54 You beat your brother's butts.
32:57 to a little girl.
32:58 We'll leave that to the imagination.
33:00 You were a little though.
33:02 I was.
33:02 But did you do it in front of girls their age?
33:06 No.
33:06 Thank God.
33:07 No.
33:07 They would have never lived that down.
33:08 Yeah.
33:09 But I rarely fought girls.
33:10 I mostly fought boys.
33:12 She's such a gangster.
33:14 Sorry.
33:15 So, well, girls is scratched and I didn't want
33:16 my I didn't want I didn't want my face scratched.
33:19 You're a boxing MMA fan.
33:21 I am a boxing MMA fan.
33:22 Do you do you like uh my favorite boxer Naway?
33:26 Do you like him?
33:28 He's all right.
33:28 The monster.
33:29 You think he's all right?
33:31 The amount of power that size.
33:33 Okay.
33:33 All right.
33:34 Honestly, he's your size.
33:35 I am a fan of the sport.
33:37 I don't really have You like Bud?
33:39 I don't.
33:40 Who's Bud?
33:41 Crawford.
33:42 Yes.
33:42 He's the man.
33:42 Yes.
33:42 He's amazing.
33:43 We watched his last fight against Canelo.
33:45 We just watched Wilder, too.
33:48 Oh, yeah.
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38:21 prospect.
38:23 You asked your dad why America, why you chose America?
38:26 My grandpa,
38:27 your grandfather Yeah.
38:28 Yeah.
38:29 Um he said America was the only country in the world where uh you
38:34 will eventually become an American
38:37 and and and in it it's interesting um because he
38:44 was very right about that you know I I don't know too many places where
38:53 an immigrant can absorb the identity um of of a new nation they arrive in.
39:00 Well, well, I I guess because it's not an ethnicity, right?
39:04 Yeah.
39:04 Like German is an ethnicity and nationality.
39:07 I know a lot of people use Japan as an example, which is crazy.
39:12 I mean, I I guess that that's
39:13 the thing I always thought was awesome about America.
39:15 I mean, and the the people here who who would be um you know,
39:22 the inhabitors of what was to become
39:26 America um were not calling themselves that.
39:31 And so I think that creates the distinction where
39:34 you know like a country like Somalia, the people are Somali.
39:38 So everyone else that's there like they have their own ethnic um backgrounds
39:45 and and stories but there's a core group of people who are just Somali
39:50 as a legislator that is um that's hijabi black and a woman.
39:58 Do you think that that is kind of on the surface
40:01 why so much negative attention is paid to you?
40:06 I mean
40:07 I mean I would say less because I'm a woman and black,
40:11 more because I'm an immigrant and visibly Muslim.
40:15 Yeah.
40:16 Yeah.
40:15 One thing that's odd to me is like I like the Obama era, right?
40:19 Like you seem like a person that like it would be
40:22 the State of the Union or something and you point to the balcony,
40:24 you'd be like Ilhan Omar was a refugee in Kenya and she
40:28 came to America and she worked her way up and became a success.
40:32 You know, it used to be something that we celebrate.
40:34 Yeah.
40:35 But I think that is the backlash is because it was celebrated, right?
40:38 Like the the reason you know earlier you asked like
40:42 why does you know how does everybody know you?
40:44 How do you you know come to national attention
40:48 is because I was a first for a whole community
40:52 that like was barely recognized as being in the country.
40:56 Yeah.
40:56 Um, and you know, here I am less than, you know,
41:00 a little over 20 years after arriving here as a kid as a member of Congress.
41:05 Um, and
41:06 you're the first African refugee.
41:07 I am the first African born.
41:09 You're the first Somalian.
41:12 Yeah.
41:11 You're the first uh Muslim woman.
41:14 Yeah.
41:14 To wear Rashidita.
41:16 Together.
41:16 Yeah.
41:17 Rashidita.
41:17 But was it alphabetical?
41:19 Yeah.
41:19 But I'm also the first Muslim not born in the US to ever serve in Congress.
41:23 Oh, so Rashida doesn't have that on you?
41:25 No, she's born here.
41:26 Yeah, she's born here.
41:27 Yeah, that's kind of soft of Rashidita.
41:29 Yeah.
41:30 I mean, and Keith Ellison was born here.
41:31 Andre Carson was born here.
41:33 Yeah.
41:33 And Latifah Simon was born here.
41:35 So, there's four of us that are in Congress.
41:39 Yeah.
41:38 But everybody seems to only remember I'm
41:40 I'm the Muslim one that exists there because
41:43 Yeah.
41:43 I'm visibly Muslim and I'm also an immigrant.
41:45 Do you think they're also haters because
41:47 like uh I don't know, everyone's uglier?
41:52 No.
41:52 People are beautiful in their own.
41:54 What?
41:54 You think Lindsey Graham is beautiful in his own way?
41:57 I'm sure somebody thinks Lindsy Gra You work at an ugly office.
42:00 Okay, let's be real.
42:01 Have you seen some of these people?
42:03 Why are we let them in charge of us?
42:05 You can admit it's not a beauty contest.
42:09 Okay, listen.
42:09 I'm not Look at them.
42:12 Some of Wait, you think Mitch McConnell
42:14 got got there because of pretty privilege?
42:17 You think what?
42:18 You think I got there because of pretty privilege?
42:21 No, I think you overcame a lot.
42:23 Okay.
42:23 Well, thank you.
42:23 I appreciate that.
42:25 I didn't know where we were going with this.
42:27 I'm just saying you work at an ugly place.
42:30 One of my opponents when I first ran for office was busted.
42:35 Uh, no.
42:36 Said said um that I was gaining traction because I was attractive.
42:42 Uhhuh.
42:43 Um, and you were like you were like thanks but no thanks.
42:46 Yeah.
42:46 Yeah.
42:46 No, I appreciated the compliment.
42:48 Um, but I'm pretty sure it was more than that.
42:51 when you got into the House, uh, I think probably our audience's understanding
42:57 of Nancy Pelosi is kind of probably negative.
43:00 I don't I don't know.
43:00 People are very hate Congress in general.
43:03 Can you tell us a little bit about like, uh,
43:05 you know, what she told you about being a woman in government?
43:10 Why are you laughing?
43:11 I I meant to say that.
43:13 Why is she laughing at me?
43:16 I don't know if she Did I say woman?
43:18 How did I say it?
43:21 Sorry.
43:22 Sorry.
43:23 I've just never met someone in a maroon five
43:25 music video with Ellen and Galado and Millie Bobby Brown.
43:31 Young Millie.
43:32 No, I mean Pelosi is a fascinating person because you know
43:41 she's um an only daughter to a family of like many boys.
43:49 Yeah.
43:50 Um also a political family.
43:51 Yeah.
43:52 And she had um her own, you know,
43:56 I think strengthening growing up with lots
43:59 of brothers in the same way that I did.
44:02 um she was very close with her father like I did.
44:05 So we had sort of, you know, some of those kind of um things in in common,
44:12 a little a little toughness in in us that was
44:16 um intentionally built by our our brothers and and father.
44:20 Uh and you know, I don't take She doesn't take So
44:26 it was it was easy to to connect in that way.
44:30 She she said that they're going to be mean to you cuz you're a girl.
44:35 No, but I mean she's, you know,
44:37 she also had to denounce me a few times, you know, so
44:41 Oh, we all denounced you a few times.
44:42 Yeah.
44:43 Yeah.
44:43 So, you know, I think she understood that I I I didn't care.
44:47 I I think the first time I heard about you was during the Benjamin's tweet.
44:54 Mhm.
44:54 And something that really pissed me off was that I feel like um a lot of people
45:00 online kind of people I would expect even uh kind of took the bait on that one.
45:06 Yeah.
45:06 It was it was a it was a generationalness.
45:09 Yeah.
45:10 What do you But there was a soul voice that uh that spoke out of the darkness.
45:16 Yeah.
45:16 On your behalf.
45:19 Okay.
45:18 Online.
45:18 What was it like to to hear that person standing up for you?
45:23 Who's Is that is that you, Adam?
45:29 Okay.
45:30 I got in big trouble.
45:31 Okay.
45:31 Well, we appreciated it.
45:33 I I
45:33 Well, you're going to get mad at me about what I said,
45:35 but I I was upset because people are lecturing you on anti-semitism.
45:40 Just to back up, um uh you had a tweet about Apac,
45:44 which is a lobbying organization, right?
45:46 Which uses uh very toxic lobbying organization.
45:50 Sure.
45:50 We know them.
45:51 We love them.
45:52 Uh no, but uh you got a tweet that it
45:54 was all about the Benjamins like meeting that money and
45:58 government also like from the song
46:00 also the the song also his name is Benjamin Netanyahu.
46:03 I mean it worked on three.
46:05 It was a it was a triple on Tandra.
46:07 Well the other layers had no factor in outside of the Yeah.
46:11 Outside of the bars.
46:12 Yeah.
46:13 And uh
46:13 but like I said I I think I was too young for a lot of the people who were
46:17 commenting on it.
46:18 Yeah.
46:18 They were they were like Benjamin Franklin would never Yeah.
46:21 Yeah.
46:22 Uh, yeah.
46:23 And then I got upset because you were getting
46:25 lectured by a certain daughter of a former president
46:29 and I did a mean tweet and she found it.
46:32 I didn't even at her.
46:35 And so she uh said that I was an anti-semite.
46:38 I tweeted Chelsea Clinton isn't even Jewish.
46:41 She's just ugly.
46:43 Sorry.
46:43 Sorry.
46:44 Sorry.
46:45 I'm
46:46 Is that Is that a real tweet?
46:47 Yeah.
46:48 I'm sorry, but I was upset on your behalf and people are piling on.
46:53 I I regret it and I'm sorry.
46:55 It Jewish comedy, the basis of Jewish comedy, self-deprecation.
46:59 We I'm just saying we're ugly.
47:02 We have that in common.
47:03 Somali are very much
47:05 Yeah.
47:05 We hate ourselves and Yeah.
47:07 Or don't take ourselves too seriously.
47:09 Listen, just seeing that one voice out of the darkness.
47:12 Yeah.
47:12 It it encouraged other people.
47:14 Yeah.
47:14 Was that when did you know that it was going to be like this?
47:19 I I suppose like did you because that was fairly early on
47:24 was my when did it first month third third week
47:28 first month at the job everyone's telling you
47:30 that you're Adolf Hitler or something you know
47:33 uh did it dawn when did it dawn on you it's going to be like this?
47:39 Did it dawn on you then or was it
47:42 your second month when they said you were Edamine or something?
47:46 Your third month when they said you were pole pot or whatever.
47:49 Yeah,
47:50 I don't I mean I I don't know.
47:52 I I guess like when I first ran um you
47:57 know I thought of all the horrible things that could happen,
48:01 wrote a list of 10 10 worst possibilities and none of it has actually happened.
48:09 So
48:11 what were some of the bad
48:13 bad ones?
48:14 Yeah.
48:15 Really?
48:15 Yeah.
48:15 I'm not going to say it so somebody can do it to me.
48:18 I'm not putting it out.
48:19 You don't want the bad guys to get any ideas.
48:22 That's a good that's smart.
48:23 Yeah.
48:24 Yeah.
48:24 But I mean like I you know so I I
48:26 think I keep a levelheadedness because it's not as bad
48:29 as I thought which is kind of crazy because everybody's
48:32 like oh my god this is horrible and I'm like eh
48:35 it's really not as bad as it could be.
48:37 The strange thing to me is that Somali are such a small ethnic minority, right,
48:43 in America and there's a fixation Yeah.
48:46 that's surfaced.
48:47 And Trump was talking about them in 2016, I believe, when he was running.
48:52 Yeah.
48:52 Like uh Yeah.
48:53 He came he came to Minnesota.
48:56 Yeah.
48:55 Um and said we were there without the permission
48:57 of motans and we should all get out.
49:00 You didn't ask.
49:03 Apparently.
49:03 Why?
49:03 Why Minnesota?
49:05 What about Arizona or something?
49:07 There are some There are Somalies in Arizona.
49:10 Yeah, the smart ones.
49:11 Why don't you go up there with the snow?
49:14 This is as different as possible.
49:16 We're We're naturally nomads.
49:19 Um, which culturally means, you know, somebody usually goes to a place and says,
49:24 "Why do you nomad away from the snow?
49:26 This is a good place for people to live and raise a family." And yeah,
49:30 you know, my family was settled in Arlington,
49:32 Virginia, and that's where I went to middle school.
49:34 And um you know my older siblings
49:37 realizing that I'd missed four years of schooling
49:39 really wanted a good education system for me
49:42 so that I could graduate on time and
49:45 you know not um you know get lost
49:48 in the system and they were doing research in Minnesota
49:52 at the time had really good education system
49:55 and so that's how we ended up in Minnesota.
49:58 U but the first family in Minnesota came from San Diego actually.
50:03 Well, it's way nicer there in San Diego.
50:06 Fabulous.
50:06 The cost he had a lot of kids and the cost of living was too much.
50:10 California, don't get me started.
50:11 Yeah.
50:11 So, he uh moved to Marshall, Minnesota.
50:15 Oh, sounds terrible.
50:16 Where it was like he was paying 10% of for rent
50:19 for than what he was paying in San Diego, which meant,
50:22 you know, he had the freedom to start a business.
50:24 And I think he's the first Somali millionaire.
50:28 I I want to talk about Minneapolis.
50:30 Um I I kind of have this like well first off I just like I
50:36 think it's valuable to hear like uh
50:37 from obviously two constituents of yours were killed
50:42 right?
50:43 Um
50:44 by ICE and CPP.
50:46 Yeah.
50:46 Um yeah I think first off like just tell us like
50:51 what you saw transpire in your district in your home city.
50:55 Yeah.
50:56 Yeah, I mean the federal occupation of of Minnesota was um a little scary.
51:02 We had over 4,000 um ICE and CPP agents and it was,
51:09 you know, masked men patrolling the streets with machine guns.
51:18 um stopping cars, dragging people out of the cars, breaking windows,
51:25 um arresting people who were telling them that they were citizens,
51:28 had their documents, they were legally in the United States.
51:32 Um, you know, obviously they killed Renee Good
51:36 and Alex Prey for just monitoring and documenting
51:40 the um the the brutality that uh they
51:45 were witnessing with so many people um being disappeared,
51:49 so many businesses being shut down, lots of empty schools.
51:54 There was a third a third of our schools were um had presence of children.
52:00 Yeah,
52:00 it was it was very very scary.
52:03 What's it like to be a leader
52:06 of a community that's going like going through that?
52:09 Like
52:09 it's terrifying.
52:10 Um especially when you yourself, your, you know,
52:15 family members um are, you know, also part of the targeted group.
52:22 Uh, and so, you know,
52:24 you're caring for your constituents and trying to provide
52:27 as much information as you can and, you know,
52:29 chasing down people who've disappeared through um a maze
52:33 of a of a system trying to identify where they are,
52:36 where they've they've been taken to because they were us
52:39 they were usually disappearing people within three hours from the state.
52:45 Um, so that was very difficult for us to track people down.
52:48 Um, and then you're worried, you know,
52:51 if one of your family members um is going to be next.
52:55 Do you think the president watched a YouTube
52:59 video and didn't realize that most Somali
53:04 the vast vast vast majority of Somali
53:06 are legally in in Minneapolis or here legally?
53:10 Yeah.
53:11 I mean, that that was the the most baffling part, right?
53:14 because they said
53:15 what percentage of of the Somali community are legal in like 98% or something.
53:20 Yeah.
53:21 98 98% um no they said they were going through this mass
53:25 deportation of Somali which is what operation metro search was about.
53:31 Yeah.
53:30 And you know to you know they canled the protective um temporary they announced
53:36 that they would cancel that which they couldn't
53:38 automatically cancel it because those are timed right.
53:41 Um and so it it was for a lot of us we were like
53:46 who is who are you mass deporting because you know none of us are deportable.
53:52 Yeah.
53:52 Um and and that and that was the thing that was disturbing
53:57 about it because they were going
53:59 into these um Somali restaurants, Somali businesses,
54:05 Somali, you know, heavy neighborhoods
54:08 and they they were like basically snatching
54:10 people only to have to let them out within um few hours.
54:16 And then they said, "Okay,
54:17 so anybody who came in through a refugee status since 2021,
54:25 um, we'll take all of them to Texas and Louisiana.
54:29 We will revet them." Uh,
54:31 and so they did that for a little over 4,000 people
54:35 and then they had to return all of them because their vetting was
54:39 they were here legally.
54:41 Yeah.
54:41 And they already been severely vetted.
54:44 that vetting when you're leaving a refugee camp takes three to five years,
54:49 sometimes up to 10 years.
54:52 Um, you know, they're they're checking your bone density.
54:55 They're, you know, look, it's just it's a very invasive um vetting process.
55:01 And so it was again just a waste of money and a way
55:05 to terrorize people who were just adjusting to life in America.
55:09 But I think a lot also about the I
55:12 mean largely Latino people getting detained and and disappear.
55:16 Yeah.
55:16 I mean of we we we recently um the they recently released a a report
55:24 um of the 4,000 people they eventually arrested um less than 3% were Somali.
55:32 Yeah.
55:32 Yeah.
55:33 It just it seems to be like an old
55:35 man watched a YouTube video and then uh wanted
55:38 to arrest a bunch of people that were here
55:40 legally and then and then Latinos suffer the consequences, right?
55:46 Yeah.
55:48 Um
55:48 who come who come from, you know,
55:49 countries that are experiencing severe vulnerability.
55:52 It's our
55:53 Yeah.
55:53 you know, it's the Venezuelans, it's people from Ecuador.
55:57 A lot of young people um who fled uh trafficking um
56:03 and gang life in in Ecuador being caught up in it.
56:07 You know, your family were lucky enough to get a visa to come here.
56:11 Um
56:12 you know, do do you often think about what your life would be like had you not?
56:17 When you think about that, does that give
56:19 you a deeper understanding of those people?
56:23 Um, I mean, it's hard to predict what my life would have been like.
56:29 Yeah.
56:28 Um, it certainly wouldn't be like what it is today.
56:32 Um, so I I I I don't know.
56:34 I can't I can't predict the future for um an Ilhan
56:40 that doesn't leave that that camp when when I did.
56:44 I've been to um other refugee camps in in Kenya
56:49 where I've met um some kids I knew
56:53 from the refugee camp I was in um who are
56:57 raising kids in that refugee camp and they're still refugees.
57:01 Yeah.
57:01 So they have, you know,
57:03 another generation of kids that are born into a refugee camp.
57:08 Wow.
57:09 Yeah.
57:09 I don't even know what I would have been into at at 12 or 15 or you know,
57:14 do they get Baywash?
57:16 I don't I don't think so.
57:18 Like when when you're a kid in school,
57:20 you learn about periods of history where countries that had laws
57:25 started taking people from their homes and locking them in cages.
57:31 You think when you're a kid, what do you do?
57:33 And I've been thinking a lot about that nowadays.
57:36 Mhm.
57:37 And I don't know what the answer is.
57:39 And so what what do we do like about
57:43 the people that are in Florida or, you know,
57:46 in Texas or Louisiana that are many of them here legally
57:51 that are dying in captivity that are not being charged with crimes?
57:55 So what do we do if it's happening now?
57:58 Yeah.
57:59 I mean, it's it's always the the the challenge, right?
58:02 because you can you can think about what you would do,
58:05 but then you've got the constraints of what
58:08 the the legal system that you're living under.
58:11 People forget that brutality is often times legalized.
58:17 Yeah.
58:17 Um and when people say, you know,
58:19 why didn't you do this or why didn't you know these people do that?
58:24 um they forget that there was a whole system
58:26 to make it hard for people to do anything
58:31 because then they would risk their own lives.
58:34 They would risk their own captivity.
58:36 Um and you know in Minneapolis we've we've had people I I
58:42 went to um this shopping center that has um housing attached to it.
58:49 Um, and I was meeting with the um the business association there
58:55 and one of the uh one of them explained that the condos
59:00 um above this uh businesses were choosing to allow some
59:07 of the workers to stay with them so they didn't have to travel
59:12 that they, you know,
59:13 they felt safe to just be able to go to work in the same building.
59:18 um instead of being exposed to the outside environment.
59:23 Um and so, you know, there are places like Minneapolis where people have
59:27 figured out a way to keep their neighbors safe.
59:30 We had, you know, um soccer moms, you know,
59:33 organizing pickups and drop offs um for the neighborhood children.
59:38 Um, we had blockatches where parents organized themselves to take shifts um
59:45 to alert other people uh when ICE or CPP would be in the neighborhood.
59:51 Uh, and so there, you know,
59:52 there there are ways that people have figured out, but there is the risk, right?
59:56 You you can get killed like Renee and Alex um have.
1:00:01 Uh, and and that's that's the choices that people
1:00:04 have to, you know, have to figure out.
1:00:06 And it's something that people say to me all the time,
1:00:08 like, you're an immigrant.
1:00:10 You're risking a lot by being in the forefront of this fight.
1:00:13 Um, but to me, it is a a choice I consciously make.
1:00:18 Um because I would want if there was a a member of Congress that represented me,
1:00:24 I would want them doing everything that they could
1:00:27 um in in defending me um and speaking up for me
1:00:32 um and not just being worried about what would happen to them,
1:00:36 but what happened to the people that they represent.
1:00:38 And so it's a it's a it's a loaded thing to think about.
1:00:43 Um but you know it's
1:00:45 often times we're hearing from the Democrats like vote for us
1:00:48 in the midterms if you want us something to happen.
1:00:55 Yeah.
1:00:53 Right.
1:00:54 But um I mean this was a this was a program under Obama.
1:01:00 You know child separation was happening under Biden.
1:01:04 So, do you as a member of that caucus have faith in the party
1:01:10 uh were you to be successful in the midterms to like close the places,
1:01:17 shut the places down where people have
1:01:20 been set without due process and are dying?
1:01:23 Yeah.
1:01:24 Uh I mean I I I is that possible?
1:01:26 I do believe right when you when you think about the mass
1:01:30 deportation program under Obama and private
1:01:35 detention centers becoming a thing under Obama.
1:01:40 Um you now see Democrats finally realizing that we
1:01:46 cannot create systems that can be exploited by evil.
1:01:51 Yeah.
1:01:52 to them.
1:01:52 They thought at the time, you know,
1:01:54 this was cost-saving or it was an way to expedite um
1:01:59 or to do something in in a in a way to reform the system.
1:02:03 But they gave a playbook to the most evil people like Steven Miller.
1:02:09 Yeah.
1:02:10 um who have now allowed these detention centers and even with the first
1:02:16 uh Trump administration where people dying in there and covering up it's normal.
1:02:25 Yeah.
1:02:24 um and sometimes being killed um in in these detention
1:02:28 centers without accountability where you can have masked agents and we're
1:02:34 now just begging for the bare minimal of like can
1:02:37 you go back to what is actually legal required for you
1:02:42 to do and so I do see now when Democrats
1:02:46 say put us back in charge that it is about
1:02:52 reigning this in it is about recognizing that we've allowed
1:02:57 um for a system that could be abusive to be abusive.
1:03:05 Yeah.
1:03:04 Um and we have Republicans right now who are in charge who are
1:03:10 refusing to exercise any of the checks
1:03:15 and balances that are within their purview.
1:03:18 And so Democrats are not asking for much.
1:03:21 All they're asking for is allow us to at least have a check and balance.
1:03:26 Um, which, you know, at this moment I think it's a huge selling point because it
1:03:30 just feels like we are living with a oneman rule and that's not,
1:03:35 you know, what America is supposed to be.
1:03:39 Uhhuh.
1:03:39 Um, I guess I'll close with this one last thing.
1:03:44 All right.
1:03:44 I know that answer like that it's not the most satisfying thing,
1:03:48 but you know with the a lot of them a lot of your boys suck, don't they?
1:03:53 But it's just it's like it's
1:03:56 Yeah, we can pass these great policies because obviously
1:04:00 we have Trump for president in the next two years.
1:04:03 Um if even if we were to win the majority um but what
1:04:06 we can do is make it difficult for him to have this oneman rule.
1:04:11 Have you met him?
1:04:13 No.
1:04:14 No.
1:04:14 No.
1:04:14 What would you say to if you meet him?
1:04:16 I'm not sure.
1:04:17 It dep It changes by the day.
1:04:20 What would you say just right now?
1:04:21 How what are you feeling right now?
1:04:23 I say, "I'm Trump.
1:04:24 Hey, what's up?
1:04:25 I'm Trump.
1:04:26 I've been telling people to kill you." Yeah.
1:04:28 I might like actually curse him out in person.
1:04:32 Yeah.
1:04:34 Say the cusses.
1:04:34 I'm not going to say We'll beep them.
1:04:36 No, it's okay.
1:04:37 All right.
1:04:39 We'll cut it.
1:04:40 Just say the cusses, Congresswoman.
1:04:42 Just say the C.
1:04:43 I've never heard we don't we we don't allow cussing on the show,
1:04:47 but this is one time I think we can make an exception.
1:04:51 Let's hear those cusses.
1:04:54 All right.
1:04:54 Um, you sharing your story.
1:04:57 I think you are kind of an example of what is
1:05:00 great about America that uh you can make a success of yourself, right?
1:05:05 You could go to college at the Mall of America.
1:05:09 How did you How did you find out that the college
1:05:11 at the Mall of America wasn't on the up and up?
1:05:15 Were you in a sorority?
1:05:18 No.
1:05:17 I heard that you rushed Victoria Secret,
1:05:20 but you got into Hot You got into Hot Topic.
1:05:23 We were the weird girls.
1:05:24 The weird girl sorority.
1:05:27 Absolutely not.
1:05:28 Yeah.
1:05:28 Me and the brothers at Hollister, we were We were doing beer balls.
1:05:34 You went to college at a at a mall?
1:05:36 Yeah.
1:05:36 You might be the first in Congress Mall College
1:05:41 called the National American University.
1:05:44 Um it was it was one of those um you know exploitive Yeah.
1:05:48 Jared Kushner owned it schools and they they Kusher and Wickoff got this.
1:05:54 You think in Pakistan?
1:05:55 It's quite possible.
1:05:56 I think they I think they got this.
1:05:57 I don't think so.
1:05:58 No.
1:05:58 No.
1:05:58 I have no no faith.
1:06:00 Um but it was it was one of those like schools
1:06:03 where they you know prayed on immigrants um first time Yeah.
1:06:08 first time college
1:06:12 um you know f like you'd be the first one to go to college in your family.
1:06:15 Did you live on campus or veterans?
1:06:17 No.
1:06:17 No.
1:06:18 No.
1:06:18 And that was the selling that was the selling point
1:06:21 because it was like it they had this uh jingle.
1:06:24 It was like one night one day Saturday is all right.
1:06:28 How did you not know that this place was on the up and up?
1:06:32 They have an amusement park.
1:06:34 Yeah, but I I I'd worked at the mall.
1:06:36 Um I could go do my place called Leather Limited.
1:06:41 Where?
1:06:41 Leather Limited.
1:06:42 What is that?
1:06:43 That sounds horgy.
1:06:44 It was a That sounds haram to me.
1:06:47 No, it was a It was a leather It was a leather jacket store.
1:06:51 Oh, nice.
1:06:52 They sold leather jackets and bags and purses.
1:06:55 Nice.
1:06:55 So you got a employee discount still or no?
1:06:57 I did and I bought my dad like a lot of leather stuff.
1:07:00 A full like a harvest.
1:07:03 He had one of the leather jackets
1:07:05 with the fur the winter leather jacket with the fur.
1:07:08 Your dad?
1:07:09 Yeah.
1:07:09 And I got him like a a suitcase um for him to Is he proud of you?
1:07:14 My My dad passed away.
1:07:15 He was very proud.
1:07:16 Was he proud of you?
1:07:17 I mean, was he proud of you?
1:07:18 Yes.
1:07:18 Yes, he was very proud.
1:07:20 I like I like the section of your book
1:07:22 where he said that it's political science is a stupid That was my grandpa.
1:07:27 Was that your grandpa?
1:07:28 Sorry.
1:07:29 Like my grandfather was like politics is something you do.
1:07:32 It is not something you study.
1:07:34 He's right.
1:07:34 It's stupid.
1:07:35 I studied it too.
1:07:36 Stu what?
1:07:37 What a waste.
1:07:38 Yeah.
1:07:39 I agree.
1:07:39 I don't think I would love.
1:07:40 What am I doing with one of my kids actually study poly?
1:07:43 No, it's moronic.
1:07:45 Yeah.
1:07:45 The science.
1:07:46 Just do it.
1:07:46 Just do it.
1:07:47 I I have some beers in buns.
1:07:49 Science is in the act in the action of doing politics.
1:07:53 But I I eventually graduated from a school called NDSU.
1:07:58 Yeah.
1:07:58 In Fargo, North Dakota.
1:07:59 Yeah.
1:07:59 Carson Wentz.
1:08:01 Bison.
1:08:01 Carson Wentz.
1:08:02 Oh, yeah.
1:08:02 The football.
1:08:06 Whatever.
1:08:05 They had a great football team.
1:08:07 What were you there with Carson Wentz?
1:08:09 You know, you mean you Yeah.
1:08:10 You know, I wasn't hanging out with footballers.
1:08:12 No, you were with the nutrition club.
1:08:14 Yeah.
1:08:15 I also had two young kids to take care of.
1:08:17 So, yeah.
1:08:18 I I I didn't really do much hanging out in college because I was a young mom.
1:08:22 So, you would bring your kids to the
1:08:24 Yeah, I was in a lot of clubs um and would bring them with me.
1:08:28 You take them to the club.
1:08:30 You would take them to the club.
1:08:33 You would go to the club with your kids.
1:08:37 This She's out of control.
1:08:39 Wait till Tucker gets Someone said something to me.
1:08:44 I spoke to people that know you.
1:08:46 Okay.
1:08:47 And uh someone said something to me that's stuck with me.
1:08:52 Okay.
1:08:51 And granted I did this five months ago and then two.
1:08:55 Where are you guys finding these people that know me?
1:08:59 Who where are you people finding these people who know me?
1:09:02 My ape guys have got me got me a couple.
1:09:05 I don't think those people know me.
1:09:06 Someone that's knows you
1:09:10 has said to me that every day for you is lived truly not in like
1:09:15 a self-help book way but truly like it
1:09:19 could be your last and that's stuck with me.
1:09:24 Who's this person?
1:09:28 I mean, I think we should I I don't know if that's such a great,
1:09:33 you know, I think we should all live
1:09:36 every day as if, you know, might be our last day just
1:09:40 all of us are not all of our interns have
1:09:43 to go into therapy because they're picking up the phone all day
1:09:47 to like I don't go to I don't go to therapy.
1:09:51 I don't know.
1:09:51 No, your interns I don't think so.
1:09:53 You got to send them to therapy.
1:09:54 I'll tell you that.
1:09:56 No, I mean what they're hearing.
1:09:58 I I have I have staff that have been majority
1:10:01 of my staff has been with me since I'd gotten to Congress.
1:10:05 You're such an immigrant mom.
1:10:08 And therapy is you're you're anti- therapy.
1:10:09 I am not.
1:10:10 But I'm what I am saying what I am
1:10:12 saying is that I have people who who who naturally
1:10:18 are like this is crazy and I'm not gonna let
1:10:22 it like I'm not gonna internalize any of this stuff.
1:10:25 And we mainly feel bad for the crazy people who call
1:10:28 into our office and spend that much time thinking about us.
1:10:34 So, you know, I don't
1:10:35 I I like to believe just like me, everyone in my office is just like
1:10:41 these people are crazy.
1:10:42 Like I don't I don't think they take it home with them.
1:10:46 Um because if they did, I think a lot of them would have like left
1:10:49 the office and we rarely have people who quit our
1:10:53 I think it's um if you'll allow me,
1:10:56 I think it's just really great to see an example in a shitty
1:11:01 time of one person who despite all this is uh just like you.
1:11:07 I have every right to be here as much as you do.
1:11:10 And uh I don't think that I mean I think
1:11:14 it's a test It's a testament to uh your resilience
1:11:18 and I I I genuinely me going through that Adam
1:11:24 Freedland is we should I would have sent him to Guantanamo.
1:11:28 What the hell?
1:11:30 What would you what would you have done if the if the president every day was
1:11:33 I would have laughed at all his jokes.
1:11:35 Okay, there you go.
1:11:36 Yeah, that's what you do when you have
1:11:37 a boss that's that's an but but not very smart.
1:11:41 You said that that was hilarious, sir.
1:11:44 Yeah, I would have gotten away with doing no work for 40 years.
1:11:48 Yeah.
1:11:48 At at the I mean, if he was saying the stuff he says like about me, about you,
1:11:54 I would have uh I don't know.
1:11:58 It wouldn't just be like, okay, this man is crazy.
1:12:00 No, I I I think I think it's really important for someone to say,
1:12:04 "I have every right to be here." Yeah.
1:12:06 You know, what's he going to do?
1:12:09 Um he's gonna drive these these nuts nuts.
1:12:13 You know.
1:12:15 Yeah.
1:12:14 Someone called me after Kirk.
1:12:17 Yeah.
1:12:17 And they said, "What do you have security?" I'm like,
1:12:19 "What does this have to do with me?" Me for Charlie?
1:12:24 If someone did that for Charlie and they got I was the me?
1:12:29 Yeah.
1:12:29 Do you do one of those like come debate me things?
1:12:32 No.
1:12:32 I don't want to talk to kids.
1:12:35 They're terrible.
1:12:37 What does he yell?
1:12:38 He yells at He yelled at babies the best.
1:12:41 We'll cut that.
1:12:44 Uh, I really appreciate your time.
1:12:46 I've been really excited about this one.
1:12:49 Likewise.
1:12:49 Did you have fun?
1:12:49 I did.
1:12:50 Okay, we're going to do another cooking demonstration.
1:12:53 And the tea turned out great, if I say so myself.
1:12:56 Okay.
1:12:56 Well, you were complaining about the cloves.
1:12:59 They turned out okay.
1:13:01 A little tangy because we didn't get to crush them.
1:13:03 Oh my god.
1:13:03 Oh my god.
1:13:04 You can't win with her, guys.
1:13:05 Ilhan, everyone.
1:13:08 It's been a pleasure.
1:13:10 I hope you enjoyed it.
1:13:11 I did.
1:13:11 Yeah, it's better than her song.
1:13:14 Is there a competition?
1:13:16 Shut up, Justin.
1:13:48 Heat.
1:13:49 Heat.