Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis resident and guest of Representative Ilhan Omar, found herself at the center of a national controversy after being arrested during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on February 25, 2026. The incident, which unfolded in the House gallery as Trump delivered remarks that many—including Rahman—deemed inflammatory, has sparked widespread debate about civil liberties, law enforcement conduct, and the state of American democracy.
Rahman’s arrest was not her first encounter with aggressive law enforcement. Just over a month earlier, on January 13, she was forcibly dragged from her car by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis while en route to a doctor’s appointment at Hennepin Healthcare’s Traumatic Brain Injury Center. According to Democracy Now! and multiple news outlets, Rahman suffered significant injuries during that incident—including a torn rotator cuff tendon and multiple cartilage tears in both shoulders. She later testified before Congress, stating, “I was carried face down through the streets by my cuffed arms and legs while yelling that I had a brain injury and was disabled. I now cannot lift my arms normally. I was never asked for ID. Never told I was under arrest. Never read my rights. And never charged with a crime.”
That January encounter left Rahman with lingering pain and mobility issues, but also a renewed determination. “Every time you try to break my body, you fuel my spirit,” she later told Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman. For Rahman, the events at the State of the Union were not just about her personal struggle—they were about the treatment of marginalized communities, especially Somali Minnesotans, by those in power.
On the night of the State of the Union, Rahman attended as a guest of Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minnesota’s 5th District. As President Trump addressed Congress, he referred to Somali Minnesotans as “pirates,” a remark Rahman found deeply offensive and emblematic of what she described as a pattern of racist rhetoric targeting her community. In response, Rahman stood up silently in the gallery. “There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up,” she said in an interview with Democracy Now!. “I was arrested for standing up.”
Capitol Police, however, saw things differently. In a statement to the Minnesota Reformer, they explained, “The guest was told to sit down, but refused to obey our lawful orders. It is illegal to disrupt the Congress and demonstrate in the congressional buildings, so Rahman was arrested for unlawful conduct, disruption of Congress.” Rahman was subsequently removed from the gallery, taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment of her injuries, and then booked at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters.
Witnesses described the removal as alarmingly forceful. Rahman, who had already warned officers about her fragile shoulders, was physically pulled from her seat. Two other attendees reportedly tried to intervene, asking officers to let Rahman walk with her cane rather than be yanked by her arms. Only after a sergeant intervened in a stairwell and ordered medical care and a wheelchair did the officers stop pulling on her. “The sergeant of arms told me it is because I was standing up. Silently. No buttons, no facial expressions, no gestures, no signs. Not one sound. Standing up,” Rahman recounted.
Attorney Alexa Van Brunt of the MacArthur Justice Center, who represents Rahman, called the arrest an abuse of power. “There is nothing unlawful about standing in silence and this is a blatant abuse of power,” Van Brunt stated to the Reformer. “She was not disruptive or disrespectful. She was not holding a sign, making gestures, or wearing protest gear. She was simply standing in silence.”
The response from Rep. Omar was swift and unequivocal. In a public statement, she condemned the arrest, saying, “The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred.” Omar noted that Rahman was not the only person standing in the gallery at various points in the evening—many Republicans, in particular, stood up to applaud the president without consequence. “For that, she was forcibly removed, despite warning officers about her injured shoulders and ultimately charged with ‘Unlawful Conduct,’” Omar said. “Reports indicate she was aggressively handled until someone intervened to secure medical attention.”
Rahman herself pointed out the apparent double standard. “All kinds of people were standing up all night. Me too—I stood up—at the moment that I heard this man say some of the most racist things I have heard come out of any leader’s mouth about the people of my city, and continue to trash-talk my state of Minnesota and glorify DHS, the people who did this to me and who are being allowed to roam free on the streets,” she told Democracy Now!. She added that she was much quieter than others in the gallery, including Republicans who stood and applauded, yet she alone was arrested.
Rahman’s ordeal has reignited discussions about the treatment of disabled individuals, immigrants, and critics of the administration. Her previous experience at the hands of immigration officers was harrowing: “Agents on all sides of my vehicle yelled conflicting threats and instructions that I could not process while watching for pedestrians. Then, the glass of the passenger side window flew across my face. I yelled ‘I’m disabled!’ at the hands grabbing me. An agent said, ‘Too late!’ I was carried face down through the street by my cuffed arms and legs while yelling that I had a brain injury. I now cannot lift my arms normally. I was never asked for ID, never told I was under arrest, never read my rights, and never charged with a crime.”
At the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, where Rahman was taken after her January arrest, she described a chaotic and unprofessional environment. “Agents repeatedly had to stop and ask how to do tasks. I received no medical screening, phone call, or access to a lawyer. I was denied a communication navigator when my speech began to slur. Agents laughed as I tried to immobilize my own neck. I asked for my cane and was told no, pulled up by my arms, and prodded forward in leg irons by an agent saying ‘Walk! You can do it. Walk.’ Agents did not know if the facility had a wheelchair.”
The charge against Rahman—unlawful conduct, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to six months in prison—has not gone unnoticed by advocates and observers. Many see her arrest as part of a broader pattern of silencing dissent and targeting vulnerable populations. As Rahman herself put it, “The only reason I can think that they thought me standing silently there was a protest is because by this point my body, unafraid, even if broken, standing and looking at these people in their face—well, that must be a protest to you.”
As the dust settles, calls for accountability and transparency continue to mount. Whether Rahman’s case will prompt meaningful policy change or simply fade into the background remains to be seen. For now, her story stands as a stark reminder of the tensions at play in America’s halls of power—and the courage it can take to simply stand up.