Ilhan Omar Biography (1982–)
Democratic politician Ilhan Omar arrived in the United States as a refugee and became one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.
Who Is Ilhan Omar?
Ilhan Omar fled Somalia's civil war as a child and spent four years in a refugee camp before her family received asylum in the United States. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and in 2016 won a seat in the Minnesota House. In 2018, Omar was elected to represent Minnesota's 5th district in Congress. She became the first Somali American and one of the first two Muslim women in the U.S. House. She is also the first to legislate from the House floor while wearing the hijab. Omar is a progressive politician who is a member of Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor-Party. Her memoir, This is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman, was published in 2020.
Early Life
Omar was born on October 4, 1982, in Mogadishu, Somalia. Her mother passed away when Omar, the youngest of seven children, was 2. After this loss, her father, sisters and aunts took care of her. Omar grew up at her middle-class family's compound in Mogadishu, where her grandfather didn't enforce traditional gender roles.
Omar's childhood was upended by Somalia's civil war. When she was 8, her family fled the country. They ended up living at a refugee camp in Kenya for four years.
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Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Sunday, March 13th 2022 at 9:14PM
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