Rashida Tlaib calls raid on Ilhan Omar a political attack

Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News on Oct 15, 2026

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INKSTER, Mich. — Democratic Michigan U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib said the Oct. 12 predawn federal raid on the home of fellow U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota "was hard for me to see her family targeted" and was a politically motivated attack.

Tlaib had earlier described the raid of Omar's Washington-area home by U.S. Department of Homeland Security as "exactly what a fascist police state does," in a social media post. A Justice Department spokesperson on Oct. 12 said "the enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation" regarding Omar's immigration status.

On Oct. 14, at a press event in Inkster, Tlaib said "people are angry about it" and many understand it was motivated by the fact that Omar has been a frequent critic of the policies of President Donald Trump.

"I think people know that a few weeks before the election, that to go and target someone that's been targeted by this administration for a long time," Tlaib said.

The midterm elections are less than one month away, and Democrats hope to regain control of Congress.

"They use her ethnicity as a Somalian. They use her as a refugee. They use her immigrant status, the fact that she's Muslim, wears hijab, a Black woman, all of those identities," said Tlaib.

"Even though she's small, I know she's tough. But it is hard for me to see her family being targeted like this."

When asked if she sees other examples of politically motivated attacks on Muslims, Tlaib said ''racist tropes" are often used against her and Muslim communities by political opponents and media.

"Our Muslim families don't deserve to be used in this political campaign," she said, "Talk about your agenda. Talk about what you want to do for Michiganders. Stop, you know, using awful terrorism attacks on our nation and horrible moments in our country, and apply it on to a whole faith."

She said candidates like Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in Michigan for U.S. Senate, are often misaligned.

"They believe that myself and Abdul, being Muslim Americans, that somehow we don't care about our neighbors, or that all these, you know, racist tropes being applied to us like this."

Tlaib also called out The Detroit News and how she has been portrayed.

"I mean, the Detroit News does it to me all the time," she said. "As a Palestinian American, they apply racist dual loyalty tropes on me."

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