A man attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar at a Tuesday town hall in Minneapolis, appearing to spray her with an unknown substance as she spoke about her desire to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

Omar, who has represented Minneapolis since 2019 and has been an outspoken critic of the Trump’s administration’s immigration enforcement actions there, continued the meeting after the man was wrestled away from her podium by security. 

“Here’s the reality that people like this ugly man don’t understand. We are Minnesota strong, and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us,” she told the crowd. Later on X, she added: “I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win.”

When asked about Tuesday’s attack, Trump told ABC that he hadn’t seen the video, saying, “I don’t think about her.” He added: “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”

On Thursday, the Justice Department charged the man who approached Omar with forcibly assaulting, opposing, impeding and intimidating her. Authorities have since determined the substance was water and apple cider vinegar.

The president regularly launches verbal and social media attacks against Omar, one of his most frequent targets, alongside other progressive women lawmakers in Congress — particularly those who are women of color. The vitriol he directs at the Minnesota Democrat has intensified alongside his attacks against other elected officials in the state, which has been at the center of his administration’s immigration crackdown since December. Trump has linked the raids, which initially focused on Minneapolis’ large Somali community, to federal prosecution of a series of fraud cases involving government programs and a misleading viral video about child care fraud. Trump referred to Omar as “a fraud” when asked about Tuesday’s attack.

Federal agents have been on the ground in the Twin Cities since December and recently killed two people in incidents that sparked national outrage. Omar has continued to call for abolishing ICE, urging Trump to “get your goons out of Minnesota.” 

Trump announced this week that the DOJ and Congress were investigating Omar, in a Truth Social post that also announced a separate shuffling of the officials in charge of managing immigration raids in Minneapolis. Under former President Joe Biden, the DOJ had opened an investigation into her finances and interactions with a foreign citizen in 2024, but closed it for lack of evidence, per The New York Times.​​

Tuesday’s attack is not the first incident of physical violence Omar has faced — beyond being inside the U.S. Capitol on  on January 6, 2021, she was attacked at a state party caucus meeting as a staffer in 2014 — but rhetoric against the four-term representative has increased dramatically over the last few months, egged on by Trump.

Some members of Congress supported Omar on social media after the video of Tuesday’s attack spread online, including Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who has previously spread hateful messages about her colleague, including calling her an “enemy of the state.” 

On Tuesday night, Mace posted on X: “Regardless of how vehemently I disagree with her rhetoric — and I do — no elected official should face physical attacks. This is not who we are.”

Hours before the attack, Trump held a rally in Iowa and made derogatory remarks about Somalis and other immigrants as he has increasingly done over the last few months, mentioning Omar by name: “They have to show that they can love our country. Not like Ilhan Omar. Did you see that wiseguy? She’s always talking about the Constitution … She comes from a country that is a disaster.”

Omar has long been singled out by Trump alongside other members of the so-called Squad, a progressive group of women lawmakers that initially also included Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. Since his first term, Trump has called them “not very smart,” suggested they hate the country and told them to “go back to where they came from.” Three of them were born in the United States, and Omar has been a U.S. citizen since 2000.

But beyond disparaging remarks from Trump, political violence has also skyrocketed in recent years. In 2022, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was assaulted in their California home by someone who was looking “to kidnap and interrogate” the longtime lawmaker. Last June, former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in their home. And last week, Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost was punched in the face at the Sundance Film Festival.

A U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) report released Tuesday found that threat assessment cases have climbed for the third year in a row, so far peaking in 2025 at 14,938 reported concerning  statements and behaviors directed at lawmakers and their associates. The year prior saw 9,474 such incidents. 

“Being a public servant shouldn’t mean risking your life in this way,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) out of Rutgers University. “When these kinds of incidents occur, and especially if the commander-in-chief doesn’t condemn them, it makes making the choice to run for office and voice your opinions — it has a chilling effect.”

The Brennan Center, a left-leaning think tank, has published analyses about the ways fear of violence impacts politicians’ policy positions and communications, as well as deterring people from getting into politics — one study found nearly 40 percent of local officeholders said abuse lessened their desire to run for reelection, with women and people of color more likely than White men to say the same. 

Walsh added that while it’s hard to determine how many women decide not to run because of the threats of violence, there are still several cases of legislators, especially at the state level, leaving office for the safety of their loved ones. 

Meanwhile, Omar has said she has not been supported by GOP colleagues throughout Trump’s repeated and increasing online attacks.

“It isn’t surprising because the Republicans have bent the knee,” Omar said during a December MS NOW appearance. “They’ve welcomed his disgusting rhetoric. I’m not expecting any of them to develop a backbone now.”