The head of a Muslim advocates group has condemned conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson for accusing US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of being "living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country."Scott Simpson, public advocacy director of Muslim Advocates, said in a statement on Tuesday that, "Tucker Carlson’s latest rant on Rep. Ilhan Omar is a dangerous escalation of his anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric. These remarks are part of a clear pattern of racism, sexism and white nationalism that Carlson has long championed."Carlson, speaking on his Fox News show, noted that Omar is "a warning to the rest of us that we better change our immigration — or else." He stated multiple times that Omar "hates" America, and is encouraging immigration from places "whose values are simply antithetical to ours."
"This is not a critique of Omar’s ideas or politic," Simpson said on behalf of Muslim Advocates, the national civil rights organization that works to end bigotry through legal and political change. "This is hate speech directed at her as a Muslim and as an immigrant. Attacks on mosques and hate crimes against Muslims have skyrocketed in recent years and these bigoted tropes contribute to a toxic culture where divisiveness and racism trump American values of religious freedom for all people."
The statement concluded with a call to fire Carlson and a plea to advertisers to stop funding Fox News. Justin Wells, Senior Executive Producer of FOX News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight, responded to attack.“Anyone who values democracy and free expression should be gravely concerned when members of Congress demand that their critics be silenced," Wells said. "Tucker will address this on tonight’s show.”Tucker continued his rant against Omar on Wednesday night.“Think about that for a minute. Our country rescued Ilhan Omar from the single worst place on earth. We didn’t do it to get rich. In fact, it cost us money. We did it because we are kind people. How did Omar respond to the remarkable gift we gave her? She scolded us and called us names," Tucker said on his show. "Omar has made a career of denouncing anyone and anything in her way as racist. That would include virtually all of her political and personal opponents, and even inanimate objects, like the proposed border wall, the United States congress and the entire state of North Dakota. Omar may be from another country, but she learned young that crying racism pays."