Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy? Or that they see me as a powerful voice that needs to be silenced? Frankly, it is expected. Because when you push power, power pushes back.

I am an American. An American who was sent here by her constituents to represent them in Congress. A refugee who survived the horrors of a civil war. Someone who spent her childhood in a refugee camp. Someone who knows what it means to have a shot at a better life here in the United States. And someone who believes in the American dream and the American possibility and the promise and the ability to participate in the democratic process.

I will continue to speak up because representation matters, I will continue to speak up for families around the world who are seeking justice whether they are displaced in refugee camps or they are hiding under their beds somewhere like I was waiting for the bullets to stop. — Rep. Ilhan Omar