Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is calling for an investigation after she said her guest for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was “aggressively” removed from the House chamber.
Omar invited Minneapolis resident Aliya Rahman, a U.S. citizen and Bangladeshi American software engineer, as her guest for Tuesday night’s speech. Rahman was previously detained during a January immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, when federal agents forcibly removed her from her vehicle. She has said she was injured during that incident and no longer has full use of her arms.
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State of the Union removal
Omar says Rahman was forcibly removed from the gallery after she “stood up silently” during the president’s remarks. According to Omar, other attendees were also standing at the time, but Capitol Police still removed Rahman.
She said Rahman was “aggressively handled” and required medical attention. Rahman was using a crutch and had warned officers about injuries to her shoulders, Omar said.
“The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy,” Omar said.
Omar noted officers were warned about her injured shoulders before proceeding with forcibly removing her from the gallery.
Rahman described the encounter in an interview with Democracy Now!:
“I was not just removed and arrested. I was arrested so physically that two other attendees upstairs attempted to intervene in officers pulling on my shoulders after I told them I have a torn rotator cuff tendon and multiple cartilage tears in both of my shoulders,” she said.
Omar said she wants a full explanation for why Rahman was arrested, noting that multiple people – including lawmakers – stood during portions of the speech.
“I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest happened,” Omar said.
Capitol police response
U.S. Capitol Police said all State of the Union tickets clearly state that demonstrations are prohibited.
“The guest was told to sit down, but refused to obey our lawful orders,” Capitol police said. “It is illegal to disrupt the Congress and demonstrate in the Congressional Buildings.”
Police said Rahman began “demonstrating” around 10:07 p.m., about an hour before the president ended his remarks. After she ignored multiple requests to sit down, officers removed her from the chamber, according to the statement.
Numerous citizens detained by immigration in attendance
Rahman was not the only guest at the State of the Union address who had been previously detained by immigration officials.
A reporter took to X on Wednesday and shared a thread of other guests who have had conflicts with immigration, including a Chicago woman who was shot by Border Patrol agents and Omar’s second guest. 20-year-old Mubashir Hussen.
