Who is Muslim US Congresswoman Ilhan Abdullah Omar?

Ilhan Abdullah Omar is a 39-year-old US representative who belongs to the Democrats and represents the State of Minnesota in Congress. She is an experienced Twin Cities policy analyst, organiser, public speaker and advocate, Omar was sworn into office in January 2019.

According to media reports, Ilhan Abdullah Omar is one of the two Muslim women elected to the US Congress in 2018. She was sworn into office in January 2019. She is the first African refugee to become a Member of Congress and the first woman of colour to represent Minnesota.

The Muslim US Congresswoman was born in Somalia and her family fled the country’s civil war when she was eight. Her family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the US in the 1990s and she moved to Minneapolis with her family in 1997.

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Her grandfather inspired her in her teenage to get involved in politics. Before running for office, she worked as a community educator at the University of Minnesota, was a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and served as a Senior Policy Aide for the Minneapolis City Council.

Ilhan Omar was elected as the Minnesota House Representative for District 60B, making her the highest-elected Somali-American public official in the US and the first Somali-American State Legislator. Rep. She served as the Assistant Minority Leader, with assignments to three house committees; Civil Law and Data Practices Policy, Higher Education & Career Readiness Policy and Finance, and State Government Finance.

She has strongly supported Kashmiris in the Indian Occupied Kashmir and has often tweeted her support for them.

In 2019 after the annexation of Kashmir by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, She had called for an immediate restoration of communication; respect for human rights, democratic norms, and religious freedom; and de-escalation in Kashmir. She said that the international organisations should be allowed to fully document what is happening on the ground.