Several news outlets falsely reported that Somaliland's government called for the extradition of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, basing their stories on a post from an X account @RepOfSomaliland that does not represent the state despite its claims. Somaliland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had publicly stated in December that this account is not an official government channel, adding it was not authorized to speak on its behalf.
In a statement to The Guardian on Monday, Somaliland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "We kindly advise that any news or statements be referenced solely from official and authorized channels to ensure the accuracy and reliability of information." Somaliland is a self-declared republic in the Horn of Africa that broke away from Somalia in 1991 after the collapse of the Somali state. Though it has maintained relative stability in a turbulent region, it remains unrecognized by the international community, with Israel being a notable recent exception. Somalia continues to claim it as part of its territory.
Fox News later issued a quiet correction, acknowledging the account was not a verified government outlet. The right-wing news outlet said: "The post has been corrected to note that the RepofSomaliland X account is not a verified government account," revising its headline to: "Pro-Somaliland account backs extraditing Ilhan Omar after Vance fraud claim." The post was a reaction to an interview Vice President JD Vance gave to conservative influencer Benny Johnson on March 28, in which Vance claimed that Omar had "definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America."
Omar's chief of staff Connor McNutt dismissed Vance's accusations as "a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract," adding a pointed reference to Vance's past admission that he was willing to "create stories" to redirect media attention. This is not the first time Omar has found herself at the centre of viral misinformation with a Somali aspect: in early 2024, a mistranslated clip of a speech she gave in Minneapolis spread rapidly online, with right-wing figures accusing her of declaring herself "Somalian first."
The reports spread against a backdrop of escalating rhetoric from the White House targeting Minnesota's Somali community and Somalia. Just days before Vance's interview, Trump described Somalia as a "crooked, disgusting country," and the following day he boasted of getting Minnesota "back from Somalia." The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the remarks, with executive director Jaylani Hussein warning that portraying an entire people as intellectually inferior "is not just political rhetoric – it is dehumanization."
Omar, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee aged 12 and became a citizen at 17, warned in a Guardian interview in December that Trump's rhetoric was fueling a climate of political violence with real consequences. She said: "We've had people incarcerated for threatening to kill me," adding that her concern extended from herself to anyone "who looks like me in Minneapolis." In January, a man sprayed Omar with liquid from a syringe as she addressed constituents at a Minneapolis town hall, hours after Trump had again targeted her with xenophobic remarks, and federal prosecutors subsequently charged 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak with assault.
Source: www.theguardian.com