Ilhan Omar

“I believe in the ideals of America, in liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“I have a duty to teach my people about their rights and protect them from being bamboozled.”

“If we are not actively fighting against regressive ideologies, we are contributing to making them grow.”

“Some suggest that, as a woman, I meddle in political affairs and need to be 'put in my place.'”

“I am committed to growing participation in the political process and doing it the right way.”

“There are a few things that we can do. One of them is that we can increase the taxes that people are paying who are the extremely wealthy in our communities. So, 70 percent, 80 percent, we've had it as high as 90 percent.”

“I think a big part of my faith teachings is to work together towards equality: that we're all created equal, and under the eyes of God, we all have a right to freedom and to access our rights equally.”

“I would have loved to have heard a story like mine. I could have used it as an inspiration to get by.”

“One night, militia tried to break into our home, and the exterior was riddled with bullets.”

“It's our time to fight for the America we know we can have.”

“I talk a lot about the men in my family because my mother died when I was little, and my grandmother died when my aunts were little, so we didn't have those kinds of heads of household. But all the members of our household who were female were sort of living as equal and as wise as the male figures in our family.”

“Somalis in Minnesota have worked so hard to get their voices heard in the political process.”

“This is a land of immigrants, and most come here for opportunity, a second chance.”

“I grew up under a dictatorship. I knew what it meant for people to not have the ability to freely express themselves.”

“I think being an immigrant makes me overly optimistic.”

“We need to be constantly reminded that this is a representative democracy, and we need to be in tune to what people are talking about.”

“Here in Minnesota, we don't only welcome immigrants; we send them to Washington.”

“I've always said you get what you organize for.”

“Life in Somalia before the civil war was beautiful. When the war happened, I was 8 years old and at that stage of understanding the world in a different way.”

“Our immigration policy should be based in compassion and a desire to help the other.”