Omar Lashes Out At Trump For Treating Illegal Immigrants “Like Criminals”

Fellow Muslim Rep. & "Squad" member Rashida Tlaib backed Omar up:

Patriots on Twitter used the opportunity to educate Ilhan Omar on immigration:

The Washington Examiner has more to say on Omar's ignorant tweet:

Rep. Ilhan Omar claimed Trump is treating illegal immigrants like "criminals," following news that the United States has started DNA testing migrants apprehended at the southern border.

          

“The Trump administration’s immigration 'policy': treating immigrants like criminals. @BernieSanders and my’s approach: pathways to citizenship," the Minnesota Democrat tweeted Wednesday.

                                                 

              

The Trump administration’s immigration “policy”: treating immigrants like criminals.@BernieSanders and my’s approach: pathways to citizenship. https://t.co/23mf2BWVzH

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN)               January 8, 2020             

                                                            

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib joined Omar in her outrage, suggesting all members of Congress should also endure the "dehumanizing" task of DNA testing.

          

“I think every member of Congress should go through this dehumanizing act of submitting their DNA. The way we are treating immigrants, especially children, is disgusting and hurts all of us,” Tlaib tweeted. 

For some background on the DNA testing at the border that Omar was reacting to, CBS News gave more details:

The Trump administration began implementing a pilot program Monday to collect DNA samples from certain migrants and immigrants in U.S. immigration custody, including teenagers and green card holders. It's the first stage of a controversial and sweeping plan.

Border Patrol officers in the Detroit sector of the border with Canada and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at the Eagle Pass, Texas port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico frontier have been instructed to collect DNA from certain migrants. The samples are from cheek swabs. The biometric information would be used to create profiles in a massive national criminal database run by the FBI. 

The move is the first phase of a five-part, three year Department of Homeland Security initiative to obtain DNA profiles from virtually all migrants in U.S. custody, whether or not they've committed crimes.

The administration's efforts have elicited withering criticism from advocates who believe the government shouldn't obtain such sensitive information from people who aren't linked to serious crimes.

"This is going to be a massive intrusion into individual privacy and it seems to us like a way of just collecting a DNA databank of people who are in immigration custody — which we view as really problematic," Stephen Kang, an immigration attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told CBS News.

Citing the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, DHS officials said in a privacy impact assessment that those who refuse to consent to the new DNA collection efforts could be referred for criminal prosecution.