Omar says her State of the Union guest was arrested for standing during Trump's speech

The Hill · Feb 25, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said her guest for the State of the Union was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police on “Unlawful Conduct” charges on Tuesday evening for standing during President Trump’s address. In a post on the social media platform X, Omar said her constituent Aliya Rahman was “forcibly removed” from the House chamber after she “stood up silently” during part of Trump’s remarks. “Reports indicate she was aggressively handled until someone intervened to secure medical attention,” Omar wrote in the post. “She was taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment and later booked at the United States Capitol Police headquarters.” “The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy,” the Minnesota congresswoman continued. “I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred.” Rahman, a Bangladeshi American, was stopped by Department of Homeland Security agents in Minneapolis in January and dragged out of her vehicle. Rahman said that she sustained injuries in the process. In an interview with MS NOW ahead of Trump’s address, Rahman said it’s “really challenging” to not know the names of the agents involved in the incident. “But honestly the thing that I’m far more concerned about than myself is that this is an ongoing fear and threat for people around this country,” Rahman said. “What happened to me is absolutely not new in the history of this country, and we have not seen accountability that gives me any reason to believe this won’t be done to somebody else, so that’s what I’m thinking about today.” Omar received flak from Republicans after she heckled the president as he made comments about Somali immigrants during his Tuesday address. The congresswoman could be heard calling Trump a “liar” as the president repeated divisive claims about the community’s involvement in a widespread social services fraud scheme in her home state. The representative said her actions were “unavoidable” in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday. “The president talked about protecting Americans, and I just had to remind him that his administration was responsible for killing two of my constituents,” Omar said, referencing the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by DHS officials in Minneapolis last month. The Hill has reached out to Omar’s office and the Capitol Police for comment. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.