Ilhan Omar and Brigitte Gabriel: The Tale of Two Very Different American Immigrants

Freedom is only but a lifelong dream to many in other countries, but here in the U.S., our citizens have the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

Two American immigrant women, Ilhan Omar and Brigitte Gabriel, both found this to be true when they immigrated from war-torn countries to ultimately find themselves in the land of the free and home of the brave. While their childhood experiences in their home countries draw some parallels, their views on the country that provided them the ultimate opportunity could not be more different.

Ilhan Omar found asylum in the United States when she immigrated as a child from the war-ridden country of Somalia. After being welcomed as a refugee she became a naturalized American in 2000. In 2018, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and made quick use of her newfound political spotlight to embark in turning America’s founding principles into a thing of the past.

Brigitte Gabriel experienced having her childhood home in Lebanon decimated by Islamic militants at age ten. For the next seven years, Gabriel and her parents lived in an underground bomb shelter wondering each day if they would survive to the next. Gabriel applied for a Green Card, went through self-funded medical tests, studied about America’s history, our constitution, our judiciary system and passed exams in English before becoming an American in 1994.

Both women have garnished controversy on both sides of the political aisle for their stances on President Trump, Israel, immigration, and support, or lack thereof, on American values.

Omar has made her distaste of President Trump well known and has called him “the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen.”

Brigitte has continually expressed her support of the president and has stated, “President Trump is one of the last chances we have at saving this country and ultimately western civilization. We need to get behind this President and his agenda every step of the way!”

The pair have strongly opposing views on one of the United States greatest allies, Israel.

Omar’s continual demonization of Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric has been a central theme of her many controversial views.  In 2012, Omar tweeted, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

Omar recently introduced a House resolution that “affirms” Americans’ purported “right” to engage in the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign that pursues the ultimate elimination of the world’s only Jewish state.

In contrast, Brigitte is a passionate advocate for Israel and continues to support the Jewish state by providing information and analysis on the rise of global Islamic terrorism.

Omar’s speech and actions make it clear that she detests America as it currently exists and wants to restructure a country that endorses open borders, socialistic views, and anti-Semitic actions.

As a legal immigrant who endured the legalization process, Gabriel encourages others to pledge their allegiance to America in order to serve and protect the country she so gratefully entered into. She also is a national security analyst and is one of the leading terrorism experts in the world.

Gabriel tweeted, “Immigration is a beautiful thing when done legally and with a citizen who loves America and wants to assimilate into American culture. Fully vetted and merit-based immigration. It’s common sense, not racist.”

While freedom provides the opportunity for people to do great and prosperous things, it also allows for the opposite. The two-sided token of freedom also ushers in the ability for those to follow in their desires of malicious intent. With freedom, you can choose to do good, evil or somewhere in between.

With Ilhan Omar, we see a strong woman who is tenacious in standing up for her beliefs that America is not a great nation, but rather one that needs to pay the ultimate price of destruction. It begs the question that why would anyone who despises America as much as Ilhan Omar, want to remain here unless she was trying to turn it into something else?

On the other side, we have Brigitte Gabriel, an equally strong woman with a sheer desire to preserve America’s exceptionalism for the next generation.

Whether you were born or immigrated here, if you hate America then why don’t you leave America? It seems like a reasonable question. You instead could find a country that better represents your values rather than trying to bulldoze the constitutional framework of a country that was so vigilantly fought for.

If you are an American who does not want to preserve our national identity, I say leave this nation to Brigitte and the rest of us who believe in its greatness and make room for the millions of others around the world that would give anything to be in your place.

“The honor of a nation is its life.” – Alexander Hamilton