A Minnesota State Representative declared she was in the United States illegally, although she later backtracked on the statement.
Discussing whether illegal immigrants should be eligible for MinnesotaCare, Rep. Kaohly Vang Her told her colleagues that she is in the country illegally.
“My father, as the one processing the paperwork, put my grandmother down as his mother,” Her stated. “And so, I am illegal in this country. My parents are illegal here in this country.”
“I tell you this story because I want you to think about who it is that you’re calling ‘illegal.’ My family was just smarter in how we illegally came here,” she added. We had more privileges and more ability, which is why we came here in that way.”
In an interview with the Minnesota Reformer, Her said that she and her parents are U.S. citizens. She became a citizen in middle school.
Her explained that her father worked at the U.S. consulate and processed the family’s paperwork to “expedite their timeline to immigrate to the U.S. as refugees,” the Reformer reported.
Those coming to the United States as refugees could do so quickly if they had a family connection to the military, CIA, or USAID, the representative explained. While her family did not fit those qualifications, they had a family friend who worked for USAID and claimed a connection to him.
“Technically, you would say my father broke the law, right? But we would have come anyway,” Her told the outlet, explaining, “The truth is until people see a face with somebody and a situation, it is really easy for us to ‘other’ each other. And as somebody who’s been marginalized because of who I am my whole life, I never want to do that to somebody else.”
