Washington DC – Donna Farvard, National Organizing Director with NIAC Action, released the following statement condemning the recent vote to remove Representative Ilhan Omar (MN-5) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

“It is outrageous that a McCarthyite witch hunt is one of the first steps under Speaker McCarthy’s GOP House. Representative Omar has been an invaluable voice on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in large part because her lived experience is different from every other Member of Congress. She was born outside this country, experienced the human impact of war and the profound life-changing benefits of refugee status in the United States. The people who voted to silence her voice today do not know what it is like to flee a war-torn country and live in a refugee camp. But Ilhan Omar does.

Many Iranian Americans have experienced the horrors of war, living through the turmoil of revolution and the brutal Iran-Iraq war before arriving in the United States. Representative Omar knows that foreign policy isn’t just a political game – it has real consequences for real people. If the U.S. supports a dictator or sanctions that harm ordinary people, that has real world effects. And she has been consistent in standing up for justice and against militarism at every turn. 

These are among the many reasons why we are thankful to have an ally like Representative Omar in Congress working on foreign policy, civil rights and much more. Removing her committee assignment is an insult but won’t succeed in silencing her. 

We need more legislators like Ilhan Omar, and far fewer election deniers who are comfortable with the Muslim and African ban and American fascist movements. We condemn today’s vote to remove Rep. Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and strongly say today as we say every day: we stand with Ilhan.”

 

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