Does Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar face a proposal that would remove her from office in the House of Representatives as of May 10, 2024? No, that's not true: The censure resolution aims to reprimand Omar for her purported "recent hateful comments and history of antisemitism," but its passage wouldn't mean her dismissal from Congress. The House would have to vote to expel her for that to happen.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook by Trending Politics on May 8, 2024. The post's graphic said:
Ilhan Omar may be packing her bags and going home!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri May 10 14:21:46 2024 UTC)
Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, filed the resolution to censure Omar following her visit to a pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University on April 26, 2024. The resolution, titled "Censuring Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota for her recent hateful comments and history of antisemitism," was filed on May 6, 2024.
According to the House's History, Art & Archives website, a censure is meant to serve as a "form of public rebuke." It takes a majority vote to censure a member for their behavior. House rules allow for a censure as a punishment for "more-serious violations."
Other than publicly condemning a member's behavior, a vote to censure has no other power. To remove Omar from office, the House would have to vote for expulsion, which would take a two-thirds majority. Congressional records show that only six members of the House of Representatives have ever been expelled; most recently, Rep. George Santos of New York on December 1, 2023.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on Google News, visible here, which found no credible documents or reporting as of May 10, 2024, to corroborate the claim that the House was considering the removal of Omar from office.
Citing her previous remarks concerning Israel, House Republicans voted in 2023 to oust Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims involving Rep. Ilhan Omar can be found here.
