Ilhan Omar’s Seemingly Illiterate Co-Worker Is Petitioning to Have Her Deported

No workplace is perfect, but I have to imagine that in most, it would be a bigger deal if your colleagues called you a “bitch,” posted anime videos of themselves killing you on social media, or misgendered and tried to stop you from using the bathroom. Alas, all of this is just any old Tuesday for women, people of color, and queer and trans people who serve in Congress, the world’s worst workplace. Speaking of Tuesdays: On Tuesday, freshman Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) launched a petition to have Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) deported—and, because there’s no floor with these people, he’s also fundraising off this insanely racist demand.

Gill has taken particular issue with a video of Omar hosting a workshop informing immigrants and community members about their rights under the law—which include their rights to turn away or not speak to ICE. A heavily doctored version of the video went viral in right-wing circles earlier this month, infuriating all of the dumbest people on the internet who claimed that by informing people of the laws, Omar was somehow breaking the law. 

“Friend, we should have never let Ilhan Omar into our country,” Gill wrote in the fundraising email to his supporters, which features a photo of him and President Trump standing as close as lovers, both with their misshapen thumbs pointed to the sky. “And frankly, America would be a much better place if she were to be sent back to Somalia. The time has come to arrest and deport Ilhan Omar. Sign my petition and let’s send her back to Somalia where she belongs.” The email also accuses Omar of “facilitating a full-scale invasion of our country,” adding, “A normal society would refer to that as treason.”

Petition to deport Ilhan Omar featured in GOP fundraising email.

⁦@SpeakerJohnson⁩, get control of your caucus before we have to take other actions. This is demeaning & embarrassing. We all need to be better than this shit. I expect an answer today. https://t.co/ttFB2Y68Ba

— Mark Pocan (@MarkPocan) February 12, 2025

Omar immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia and became a citizen in 2000. Now, apparently, Republicans want to deport anyone they disagree with, regardless of that person’s citizenship status. In January, another GOP Congress member, Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), called for Rev. Mariann Budde to be deported for directly addressing Trump and his family in a sermon. One GOP politician from Utah called for Selena Gomez to be deported after she posted an emotional video of herself condemning the Trump administration’s mass deportations. Everyone in question is a citizen, but that’s beside the point, which is that Republicans are high on their own supply and entirely unhinged in this second Trump era.

Omar has since responded to Gill’s petition with far more grace than anyone should have to when the new, dumbass hire at your job tries to get you deported. “It is truly disgusting that members of the Republican party feel emboldened to engage in racist and quite frankly fascist remarks,” she said in a statement. “Representative Gill’s attempt to clout chase by threatening to deport a legal US citizen because you disagree with them is directly out of Donald Trump’s fascist playbook.”

I’ll note that Gill first called for Omar to be deported on February 4, sans petition, and I personally prefer Omar’s response to Gill then: “How stupid you have to be, to be a member of Congress and think your colleague who is a member of Congress can be deported? What a dumbass,” she told Politico. “I’m not a nepo baby.”

Others in Omar’s caucus, like Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), have come to her defense since Gill’s petition; Pocan addressed Speaker Mike Johnson directly on Wednesday: “⁦@SpeakerJohnson⁩, get control of your caucus before we have to take other actions. This is demeaning & embarrassing. We all need to be better than this shit. I expect an answer today.” Johnson has yet to respond. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called it “disgusting that Republicans are attempting to raise money by threatening to deport a US citizen just because they disagree with her.”

All of these are important points, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t make another: What Republicans very clearly yearn for right now is segregation. That’s certainly a driving force behind their obsessive witch-hunt against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. And now, because Gill can’t stomach sharing a workplace with people of color, he’s determined to make Congress as shitty an environment as possible for someone like Omar. Classy!