Ilhan Omar told constituents at a town hall meeting Saturday that Minneapolis’ rise in gun violence and carjackings can be blamed on police who “have chosen to not fulfill their oath of office and provide the public safety they owe to the citizens.”
The congresswoman, who spoke before a mostly friendly gathering of about 50 at her alma mater, Edison High School in northeast Minneapolis, was responding to a resident who confessed she had been on the verge of moving due to the increase in crime and the scores of officers who have quit or claimed post-traumatic stress since the murder last year of George Floyd at the hands of police.
Omar, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member, said she understood the desire for safety and reiterated her call to voters to approve a Minneapolis city charter amendment that would remove minimum police staffing requirements and give the City Council authority over a more holistic public safety department.
“When you have a system that refuses to work for the people it’s supposed to serve, you have to go back to the drawing board,” she said. “At some point, you’ve got to walk away.”
Omar and DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison support the amendment, while fellow DFLers such as Mayor Jacob Frey, Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith have said they oppose it.
Omar has lately thrown her weight into the Minneapolis election, endorsing mayoral candidates Kate Knuth and Sheila Nezhad while urging residents not to mark Frey, who is seeking re-election, on their ranked-choice ballots.
In her first indoor, in-person town hall since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Omar reported on the stalemate in Washington over President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, a massive infrastructure and social net plan costing trillions whose soaring costs and climate change provisions have led to a Democratic rift and ongoing efforts at compromise.
North Minneapolis developer Jamez Staples, who runs a solar installation company, asked how Congress would ensure equity in the bill for communities that have been historically left behind.
Omar said U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both Democrats, were the only obstacles to passage of the $3.5 trillion bill and the reason why it has been halved. She said that meant certain child care subsidies and paid family leave may receive funding for five years instead of 10.
She called it “baffling and shameful” that Manchin, who takes issue with provisions that would penalize West Virginia’s coal companies, would hobble social services that his low-income constituents could benefit from.
However, Omar indicated she would be willing to compromise in hopes of accomplishing something rather than nothing.
“If you’re talking to a constituent of mine that needs child care, paid family leave that has zero at the moment, [then] getting them four years, six years of child care subsidy is something I can’t say no to,” she said.
Residents’ questions ranged from personal issues to sweeping policy concerns, including student loan debt, the Line 3 replacement pipeline, addiction services and the Afghan refugee crisis.
Edison teacher Billy Menz, who is running unopposed for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s District 1 seat, asked Omar when the city will begin to receive Afghan refugees.
“As a community that’s been built and strengthened by immigrant populations, I know this building and the community at large would welcome those people here,” Menz said.
Omar responded that, “contrary to what Fox News might say,” it’s a lengthy process.
“They’re going to go through a vetting process that will take some time,” she said. “I don’t think anyone is coming anytime soon.”
Susan Du
©2021 StarTribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
“Ilhan Omar Blames Police For Rise In Crime In Minneapolis”? Hey Ilhan, you liberals are criminals, so Ilhan you and your voters are responsible for criminals being on the streets!
I share your fond sentiment of this scum and the comrades she cohorts with…but… their just not criminals… they are Constitutional terrorist, anti American haters that have committed treason of the oath to which they were sworn into.
And THIS one married her own brother to get into the US to ruin it.
SO WHERE are the calls then, to CHARGE them with treason!?!?!
Minnesota has her twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, like Rome had founding twins Romulus and Remus,,,,,,Omar leads the Democrat alliance of invading foreign Klingons and Romulans who consistently attempt to Ream us. Disarming and blaming the police is just their first line of attack. Strange how we never had such problems when the founding Scandinavians ran things.
the memos got as far as the waste basket of the RINOs…Ituser.
IF it even made it to them!
And the fire department must be to blame for the rise in arson, by her logic? EMT’s for accidents.
And shop owners, for increasing thefts..
whoa..whoa…WHOA there “disqus”…you can’t use the word “logic” in the same sentence with this American hating scum.
Omar married her brother,not really a Dem to listen to! Law breakin clown!
Unfourtunately , like with all OTHER LIBTARD commucrats, they will ALWAYS BLAME everyone and everything else, than them, for when things go wrong.
Aren’t you a brilliant analyst, Omar?
No, when the hands of the police are constantly being tied by Liberal idiots like you, crime is naturally going to rise. Criminals in Chicago, and several other places, will not be prosecuted if their shoplifting theft is under $1,000. In New York, criminals are released just like illegal aliens—which is yet another huge problem—they can come in in droves—unvetted, unchecked—and story after story comes out about crimes being committed by the criminal element in this invasion. Many police have walked off the job due to lack of support and restrictions on what they can and cannot do. Others are losing their jobs because of Biden’s Unconstitutional vaccine mandates. Police are increasingly used as scapegoats for inflated racism allegations, but with a double standard—if a White officer encounters a Black suspect, everything he does is under a microscope—if it is a Black officer encountering a White suspect. anything goes.
But one of our astute Congresswomen arrives at the conclusion that somehow the police are to blame. With geniuses like you, Omar—no wonder our country is in the mess it is in.
Someone in the Peoples House needs to turn around when One of them Opens their Mouth and SLAP the Taest
right out of their MOUTHS.
Make no mistake SOT… this is exactly what they want… to disarm and destroy all form of policing to create as much KAOS and up evil to the point of uncontrollable anarchy. Then these demons will ask the UN to bring law and order to the country…. loosing and surrendering the Constitution and our government to the “new word order”.
Well that is what the satan worshipping DEMONcrats want to do! They have every intention of bringing in even more of those blue hated creatures from other countries to contain all the Americans in this country and to strip the people of their GOD given rights. Liar omer does not belong in the house as she/it is not Constitutionally eligible to do so, the only reason she/it is there is because certain swamp monsters made exceptions to allow that to happen..
You are exactly right about her and her kind. obama brought in loads of muslims and spread them around the country, and throughout our government, and are just waiting for the word to start the uprising in their effort to overthrow our government and eliminate our constitution. The number of weapons and ammo that has been stocked up by the American loving citizens are just waiting for them to start something and they will be hit with massive power just waiting to be released. Sadly this second American revolution will most likely end up with our country divided into at least 2 different countrys.
MANY in the so-called GOP< are more than likely for this as well… THEY OBVIOUSLY MUST BE, because of how SILENT THEY ARE on all of this.
Omar is the PERFECT example of why we should not admit Muslim refugees. They will never assimilate and not only that, they will try to convert our American way of life to their thinking! I am amazed that she is still in the USA given that she has surely committed some crime!
Get it right these are not true refugees the ones that are here only want one thing! That is to force the people of this country to change their way of thinking and to do what the mudslimes say. That liar omer cares nothing for the CONSTITUTION or anything else, she/it only wants to force her way of thinking on the people.
I have long said, we should have NEVER EVER LET ISLAM INTO this nation, and need to get HARSH ON KICKING IT and all its adherents, the hell OUT!
Democrats and the Democrat Party never take responsibility or are held accountable for their own unlawful, destructive, dishonorable, immoral actions. Democrats always blame someone or something else for their own actions. Even if the Democrats are caught “red handed”.
The dishonorable socialist Democrat Party revolves around and its philosophy is based on Total Control, Hate, Lies, Cons, Deceptions, Immorality and the lack of Integrity, Ethics or Honor.
Socialist democrats are willing to destroy themselves and everyone around them before they will agree to compromise their failed policies and their destructive self-fabricated beliefs.
ilhan Omar , is One Brain Dead Puck ! She can Never Ever get her FACTS STRAIGHT and her and her STOOGE SISTERS
4 are Domestic Terrorists of ALL kinds. The STOOGE SISTERS 5 need to be DEPORTED to their Respective Countries and take the Punishment they DESERV !!
Yep!
idiot with a destruction clause.
Another brainless twit!
EVIL. not brainless.. She fully knows what she is doing to this nation…
I don’t think she’s brainless at all. She’s ruthless and fanatically programmed to push the Marxist/Globalist agenda. She needs to be jailed like the Jan 6 protestors….
To hell with jailing them. THEY NEED to be swiftly publicly executed, for high treason!
What a DIP-WAD!
Yep, I see it everyday: Police grab innocent people off the street, and FORCE them to commit crimes!
In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: “What a maroon!”
Stop importing low income constituents!
I blame uncontrolled welfare for the crimes and carjacking. Police are supposed to arrest you if you break the law. But democrats want to change that to police will only arrest republicans and conservatives .If you think I’m wrong look at the jan6 th protest then look at the riots and looting and burning, who has been charged and Prostituted Kyle was 17 year old kid attacked and they arrested him. The Couple who had guns Protecting their property was arrested and Prostituted I have trouble getting past antifa and blm attacked a kid ,a child. 17 year old kyle. They tried to kill a child.!
When you create policies that make police ineffective the criminals are smart enough to recognize it and capitalize on it. This is a self-made problem.