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Politics and Government News
Mukhtar M. Ibrahim
St. Paul

FBI probing recent death threat against Rep. Ilhan Omar

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., takes a quiet moment as she talked about Israel's refusal to allow her and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., to visit the country during a news conference on Monday at the State Capitol in St. Paul.
Jim Mone | AP Photo file

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This story comes from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to providing authentic news reporting about Minnesota's new immigrants and refugees. MPR News is a partner with Sahan Journal and will be sharing stories between SahanJournal.com and MPRNews.org.

The FBI is looking into an anonymous death threat message against U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar that said she would not make it back to Washington, D.C., and would likely be killed at the Minnesota State Fair.

Omar posted the message Wednesday on Twitter. Part of it says: "We have a very capable person with a very big ‘Gun.’ They say we can’t get the Somali Stink out of the clean Minnesota air, but we’re going to enjoy the adventure.”

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, posted the threat messages hours after Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore urged her to “go back to Somalia.”

"I hate that we live in a world where you have to be protected from fellow humans," Omar tweeted. "I hated it as a child living through war and I hate it now. But until deranged people like this stop threatening my life and the lives of others, I have to accept the reality of having security."

In a statement, Kevin Smith, public affairs officer for the FBI's Minneapolis field office, said his agency and other law enforcement agencies are aware of the threat and looking into it.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called for 24-hour government security for Omar.

“We condemn this threat of a mass shooting targeting Representative Ilhan Omar and urge our nation’s leaders to speak out against the growing bigotry and violence experienced by minority communities in an increasingly toxic political environment nationwide,” Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director, said in a statement. “The alleged assassin must be brought to justice to ensure her safety and that of all visitors to the Minnesota State Fair.”

Omar has been the target of racist attacks from President Trump and several death threats.

In February, a death threat was scrawled onto a bathroom stall at a Twin Cities gas station with the words “Assassinate Ilhan Omar."