Ilhan Omar: Stephen Miller's Migrant Rhetoric Mirrors Nazi Dehumanization

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Sunday likened White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller's language about migrants to historical dehumanization, saying his rhetoric echoed how Nazis described Jewish people.

During an interview with CBS host Margaret Brennan, Omar was asked to respond to a social media post from Miller that said:

"No magic transformation occurs when failed states cross borders. At scale, migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands."

Omar called the post "White supremacist rhetoric" and argued it recalled patterns of historical dehumanization. "It reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany," she said, adding that many immigrant groups — including Jewish, Irish and Italian immigrants — were maligned or turned away in the past.

"To me, we're — yes, of course, ethnically Somali — we are in this country as Americans, we are citizens, we are a productive part of this nation, and we will continue to be," Omar added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Context: Tensions Over Comments About Minnesota's Somali Community

The exchange came amid ongoing controversy after President Donald Trump criticized Minnesota's Somali community in connection with the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation. As of November 2025, federal prosecutors say more than 75 people have been charged in relation to the scheme. Some charged individuals are members of Minnesota's Somali diaspora — the largest Somali community in the U.S. — though prosecutors say the alleged ringleader is not from that community.

Omar denounced Trump's comments as "disgusting," saying the president was calling "Americans garbage" and warning that dehumanizing rhetoric from national leaders can inspire dangerous action by others.

On How the Fraud Expanded

In a later interview on CNN, Omar suggested that rapid pandemic-era program rollouts and reliance on third parties helped create vulnerabilities. "A lot of the COVID programs were set up so quickly that many guardrails were not created," she said, noting that third-party facilitators sometimes complicated oversight and accountability.

This episode has underscored broader debates about immigration rhetoric, political leadership, and how language used by public officials can shape public attitudes and behavior.