Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said that Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar is “ungrateful” and argued that visiting her native country of Somalia could give her some perspective.
“I hear Rep. Omar say, ‘Oh, America is a terrible place,” Paul said to Breitbart on Wednesday. “I thought there’d be justice but there’s no justice here. It’s like, she came here and we fed her, we clothed her, she got welfare, she got school, she got healthcare, and lo and behold she has the honor of actually winning a seat in Congress and she says we’re a terrible country. I think that’s about as ungrateful as you can get.”
He continued, “So while I’m not saying we forcibly send her anywhere, I’m willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia and I think she could look and maybe learn a little about bit about the disaster that is Somalia, that has no capitalism, has no God-given rights guaranteed in a Constitution and has about seven different tribes that have been fighting each other for the last 40 years. And then maybe after she’s visited Somalia for a while she might come back and appreciate America more.”
His comments come as some of Omar’s critics suggest that she return to Somalia, which her family fled in 1992. President Trump himself echoed the idea when he advised her and three other prominent progressive members of Congress go back to their home countries if they didn’t like the United States.
The House passed a resolution condemning the president’s remarks last week.
