Golfer Phil Mickelson has sparked controversy after demanding that U.S. congresswoman Ilhan Omar be deported to Somalia, while accusing the Minnesota Democrat of obtaining her American citizenship illegally.
The 55-year-old LIV Golf star made the comments on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday, responding to backlash over Omar’s statement that murdered right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk had “spread hate” and belonged in the “dust bin of history.”
“Ilhan spews hate every time she opens her mouth. She came here fraudulently and will hopefully be sent back to Somalia soon,” Mickelson wrote, just one day before Kirk’s memorial service in Glendale, Arizona.
Mickelson’s post echoed earlier rhetoric from former President Donald Trump, who has frequently targeted Omar. Trump described Somalia—where Omar was born—as suffering from “decades of civil war, corruption, pervasive violence, resurgent terrorism, piracy, and hunger,” while arguing that Omar should not be “telling Americans how to run their country.”
Omar, who immigrated to the United States as a 12-year-old refugee in 1995, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000.
