Trump Revives Omar Claims as 2023 “I’m Here to Stay” Speech Resurfaces Amid Political Tension
Tension is rising in U.S. politics after former President Donald Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One on November 30, 2025, escalated his long-running attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar. Trump claimed — without evidence — that Omar entered the U.S. through marriage fraud and called for her deportation, saying, “We should throw her the Hell out of our country.”
The allegation Trump referenced — that Omar married her brother — has been repeatedly debunked by major fact-checking organizations, which found no credible evidence supporting the claim. Omar has condemned the rumor as a dangerous falsehood that endangers her family.
After Trump’s latest comments, Omar’s old 2023 floor speech is resurfacing again. On February 2, 2023, Rep. Ilhan Omar delivered a powerful, defiant address moments before House Republicans voted to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Her closing declaration — “Take your vote or not. I am here to stay” — went viral, igniting national debate on identity, immigration, race, and political retribution.
00:00I am Muslim. I am an immigrant and interestingly from Africa. Today it's
00:08about who gets to be an American. What opinions do we get to have, do we have to
00:15have to be counted? It is no accident that former President Donald Trump led a
00:22birther movement that falsely claimed he was born in Kenya. This debate today it's
00:29about who gets to be an American. What opinions do we get to have, do we have to
00:37have to be counted as Americans? This is what this debate is about Madam Speaker.
00:43There is this idea that you are suspect if you are an immigrant or if you are from
00:50certain parts of the world or a certain skin tone or a Muslim. It is no accident
00:57that members of the Republican Party accused the first black president, Barack
01:03Obama, of being a secret Muslim. It is no accident that former President Donald
01:10Trump led a birther movement that falsely claimed he was born in Kenya because to
01:18them, falsely labeling the first and only president of the United States of America,
01:25a Muslim and African immigrant, somehow made him less American. Well, I am Muslim. I am
01:35an immigrant and interestingly from Africa.
01:43Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy
01:51unworthy to speak about American foreign policy or that they see me as a powerful voice that needs
01:58to be silenced? Frankly, it is expected because when you push power, power pushes back.
02:07Representation matters. Continuing to expand our ideas of who is American and who can partake in the American
02:17experience, experiment is a good thing. I am an American, an American who was sent here, an American who was sent here by her constituents to represent them in Congress, a refugee who survived the horrors of a civil war, someone who spent her childhood in a refugee camp, someone who knows what it means to have a
02:22shot at a better life here in the United States and someone who believes in a refugee camp, someone who believes in a refugee camp, someone who knows what it means to have a shot at a better life here in the United States. And someone who believes in the
02:47shot at a better life here in the United States and someone who believes in the
02:52American dream and the American possibility and the promise and the
02:58ability to participate in the democratic process. That is what this debate is
03:04about. There is an idea out there that I am not, that I do not have objective
03:10decision-making because of who I am, where I come from, and my perspective, but
03:16I reject that. We say there is nothing objective about policy-making. We all
03:23inject our perspective, our point of views, our lived experiences, and the voices of
03:29our constituents. That's what democracy is about. So what is the work of the Foreign
03:36Affairs Committee? It is not to co-sign the stated foreign policy of whatever
03:42administration is in power. It's about oversight. It's to critique and to
03:47advocate for a better path forward. But most importantly, it is to make the myth
03:52that American foreign policy is intrinsically moral a reality. So I will
03:59continue to speak up because representation matters. I will continue to
04:05speak up for little kids who wonder who's speaking up for them. I will continue to
04:11speak up for families around the world who are seeking justice. Whether they are
04:16displaced in refugee camps or they are hiding under their beds somewhere like I
04:23was, waiting for the bullets to stop. Because this child, survivor of war, would have
04:33wanted that. The nine-year-old me would be disappointed if I didn't talk about the
04:43victims of conflict. Those that are experiencing unjust wars, atrocities, ethnic
04:49cleansing, occupation, or displacement like I did. They are looking to the
04:55international community and the United States, asking for help. They look to us
05:02because the international community and the United States profess the values of
05:07protecting human rights and upholding international law. So we owe it to them
05:12not to make this a myth, but a reality. I didn't come to Congress to be silent. I
05:20came to Congress to be their voice. And my leadership and voice will not be
05:24diminished if I am not on this committee for one term. My voice will get louder and
05:32stronger and my leadership will be celebrated around the world as it has been. So take
05:40your vote or not, I am here to stay and I am here to be a voice against harms around the
05:49world and advocate for a better world. I yield back.
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