Minneapolis woman Aliya Rahman, who was at the State of the Union address with U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, needed medical attention after her arrest. Rahman is disabled and autistic, but despite that, she was forcibly detained by the police.
As a silent protest, Rahman stood up while Donald Trump was speaking on restoring funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Capitol police asked her to sit down, and she refused to comply, which then prompted them to detain her.
The police pulled her to the exit in an aggressive manner. Even the sergeant on the scene asked officers to use less force, but that did not stop them from dragging her. The police took her into custody, but considering her shoulder injury sustained from a previous DHS encounter, she needed to be hospitalized.
Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota brought two citizens detained by agents in Minneapolis: Aliya Rahman, a disabled woman forced from her vehicle & detained while trying to get to a doctor’s appt in January
When she stood during the speech, she was removedhttps://t.co/tuEn6aKPC4
— Nicole Foy (@nicoleMfoy) February 25, 2026
In January, she was dragged out of her vehicle by agents, leaving her with a torn rotator cuff tendon and multiple cartilage tears in both shoulders. Due to her injuries, she cannot move her arms normally and also requires a crutch to walk. Despite the injuries, the police were aggressive with her.
According to Rahman, she was not making any gestures or signs and was not wearing pins or buttons to protest. Moreover, she was “much quieter” than others. Yet she was arrested on charges of disrupting Congress.
“I was not just removed and arrested. I was arrested so physically that two other attendees upstairs attempted to intervene (…) [by pulling] on my shoulders,” Rahman said in an interview with Democracy Now after she was released from the hospital.
An hour into the event, Minnesotan Aliya Rahman was again arrested, this time by Capitol Police for “disruption of Congress.” It’s unclear exactly what Rahman said or did before being detained.
Rahman was Rep. Ilhan Omar’s guest. https://t.co/ZEld9bvZ9U pic.twitter.com/cAqhJLr5p5
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) February 26, 2026
She was taken into custody and later transported to a hospital. She was released around 4 a.m.
Confused after her arrest, Rahman said,
“There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up. All kinds of people were standing up all night. Me, too”
Capitol Police accused Rahman of unlawful conduct, for which she could face a $500 fine and up to six months in jail. Ilhan Omar has asked for a full explanation of the incident in her statement: “The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy.”
