Ilhan Omar

I mean, if you were at home, and you were hearing that, you would be alarmed. To think that there is a terrorist in the House of Representatives should be alarming to everyone.

If we do not condemn, punish, and rebuke this, we will ultimately be gathered to mourn the loss of life and another tragedy.

These are people who think trafficking hateful rhetoric gets them clout.

I can’t imagine just how incredibly dangerous it is to move now from the jokingly way that she was trafficking her Islamophobic tropes to now explicitly identifying a member of Congress as a terrorist.

When anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia is unaddressed, it’s the Muslim community that ends up paying for it.

What happens if we allow that person to lead... and what will be left of our country and its decency?

What I am afraid for is that this kind of rhetoric is going to get people killed, as it has before. And if we do not stem it out, and if we do not strongly condemn it, and if we do not come together as a country and say what is happening…

To date, the Republican Party leadership has done nothing to hold their members accountable. It is time for the Republican Party to actually do something, to confront anti-Muslim hatred in its ranks, and hold those who perpetuate it…

To date, the Republican Party leadership has done nothing to condemn and hold their own members accountable for repeated instances of anti-Muslim hate and harassment. This is not about one hateful statement or one politician. It is about a…

Boebert refused to publicly acknowledge her hurtful and dangerous comments. She instead doubled down on her rhetoric. And I decided to end the unproductive call.

we have to critically address the conflicts that contribute whether it is, you know, conflicts around resources because of the climate crisis or, you know, the persistent conflicts that exist around terrorism and wars and fight around…

I think it is important even, you know, the international cases that we do read about in Bahrain or the Emirates or Saudi Arabia.

Trafficking is the outcome of every other system failing, right? It is the natural thing that happens because we are not protecting migrant workers, because we are not protecting refugees, because we are not protecting the most vulnerable…

But we are hoping that with the enhancement that is in our, Karen Bass' and I, new bill, that that will rollout as quickly as humanly possible so that all of our young people are empowered to know what is lurking right around the corner…

we have to also think about holistically what it means for us to have humane immigration systems.

I would certainly start with a fundamental thing which is economic equity and making sure that people who come to the United States as refugees have the right to work.

And I do wonder maybe if you would go a little farther, do you think that there is more focus and maybe that leads to more exploitation on the ones that are exploited and criminalizing them rather than there being a penalty of those that…

there are people who are vulnerable that we do not often get to see or acknowledge their humanity and dignity.

I want to thank Chairwoman Bass for convening this hearing. And just express my gratitude to Ranking Member Smith for so passionately advocating on behalf of the world's most vulnerable people.

We do have to listen to survivors.

We need to stop separating the issue of sex and labor. Because a lot of the times when you talk about combating human trafficking, the focus is always sex.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to make these kinds of investments, and we’re willing to fight for it.

We have made a promise to the American people that if you elect Biden, if you get us the House, if you get us the Senate, that we are going to make real investments in childcare, in climate resiliency, in expanding healthcare, and…

They were sent to Congress to represent the voices of their constituents and speak up for those that are being left behind in the policies that are made in Washington.

It seems like our strategy is to support the same governing bodies that continue to cause instability and continue to cause human rights violations.