Disabled activist speaks out after arrest for 'standing up' at Trump's State of the Union

The images of immigration enforcement officials dragging Aliya Rahman from her car when she was trying to get to a doctor’s appointment outraged many Americans, and now she’s been arrested, she says, for standing in the House gallery during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday.

“Would you like to know why I was told that I was removed and arrested? The sergeant of arms told me it was because I was standing up,” Rahman told Amy Goodman on Wednesday on the radio program “Democracy Now.”

Rahman, who was a guest of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar at Trump’s speech, said she 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 (Homeland Security), the people who did this to me and who are being allowed to roam free on the streets.”

During his speech Tuesday, Trump called Somali Minnesotans “pirates,” just the latest in a long line of racist comments.

Rahman said her Capitol arrest was painful due to lingering injuries from when she was dragged from her car. She suffers tendon and cartilage damage that may eventually require surgery, she told Goodman.

In a statement, Omar said Rahman was brought to George Washington University Hospital for treatment and then booked at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters.

Capitol police said in a statement to the Reformer that “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.”

(As Rahman pointed out, many people are frequently standing at various moments during the State of the Union speech.)

Rahman told Goodman she’s soldiering on: “Every time you try to break my body, you fuel my spirit.”

During a U.S. Senate hearing this month, she described what happened to her on Jan. 13, when she was on her way to an appointment at Hennepin Healthcare’s Traumatic Brain Injury Center. She encountered a traffic jam caused by Homeland Security vehicles.

“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!'”

She said an agent brandished a combat knife in front of her face.

“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,” she said.

Rahman described a chaotic environment at the the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which is the headquarters of the immigration crackdown.

“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.”

Omar said in a statement, “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.”

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: [e-mail].