Overview
- Rep. Tom Emmer told a Faith & Freedom Coalition town hall audience on Wednesday that Somalis who “don’t assimilate” should “go the hell back to where they came from.”
- Minnesota Democrats including Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig immediately condemned the comments as racist and the remarks drew broad criticism on social media and in state news outlets.
- The episode highlights a marked shift in Emmer’s rhetoric from earlier work with Somali community initiatives to recent hardline positions that have pushed for deportations tied to the Feeding Our Future fraud prosecutions.
- The comments carry weight because Emmer is the House Majority Whip and Minnesota is home to one of the largest Somali populations in the U.S., raising concerns about political targeting and potential impacts on immigration enforcement in the state.
- Coverage has ranged from critical national outlets to right-leaning outlets that framed his remarks as tough-on-fraud politics, and the incident has intensified scrutiny of Emmer’s leadership and immigration policy agenda.