Disabled Activist Forcibly Removed During Trump's State of the Union Address
Aliya Rahman, a 43-year-old disabled software engineer from Minneapolis, was arrested and forcibly removed from the U.S. House chamber on Tuesday during Donald Trump's State of the Union address. Rahman, who was attending as a guest of Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar, insists she had no intention of disrupting the high-profile speech and was merely standing at various points during the event.
A Pattern of Confrontations with Authorities
This incident marks the second time in just over a month that Rahman has been physically removed by law enforcement. In January, she gained national attention when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents dragged her from her car in Minneapolis during what she described as a routine trip to a doctor's appointment. Rahman, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury sustained in 2024, testified before Congress about the incident, detailing how officers broke her passenger window and injured her shoulders while removing her from the vehicle.
"The impacts of DHS detention on my physical, mental and financial wellbeing and safety have been very severe," Rahman told Congress during her February 3 testimony. "Our nation lacks rules and accountability around what a person claiming to be law enforcement can do to another human being."
Conflicting Accounts of the State of the Union Incident
According to Capitol police, Rahman "started demonstrating during the State of the Union" and refused to obey lawful orders to sit down, violating rules for gallery guests. However, Rahman provides a dramatically different account of the events.
"I was completely silent. My arms were by my side. I was not wearing clothing with writing on it. I wasn't wearing a button. I didn't have a sign. I wasn't making gestures," Rahman told the Guardian. "I was finally standing up, like many people do all the way through the State of the Union."
Rahman explained that she stood at various points during Trump's speech, including when the president wished a happy birthday to a 100-year-old World War II veteran. She also stood when Trump made what she described as "incredibly racist things" about Minneapolis's Somali community, whom the president frequently attacks.
Retaliation Concerns and Confusion Over Rules
Rahman believes her arrest may have been retaliatory following her public testimony about ICE brutality and the criticism Trump has directed toward her host, Ilhan Omar. Her gallery ticket stated that "any disturbance or infraction of the House Rules is justification for expulsion from the Galleries and arrest," but the document does not define what constitutes a disturbance.
When officers approached her during the speech, Rahman said she declined to sit down because she was confused since other guests around her had also been standing. "They start yanking on my arms, and I'm trying to say: 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just let me walk with my cane, right? Like, I am disabled,'" Rahman recounted.
According to Rahman, officers eventually stopped pulling her and provided a wheelchair. She was then transferred to George Washington University Hospital for treatment before being booked at the U.S. Capitol Police headquarters.
Background in Advocacy and Current Legal Support
Before her traumatic brain injury, Rahman had been active for years in racial justice, criminal justice reform, and LGBTQ+ advocacy efforts. Her work included building a "statewide field program focused on bridging gaps between racial justice organizers, LGBT rights groups and labor," according to her biography with New America's Open Technology Institute.
Rahman is now receiving legal assistance from the MacArthur Justice Center following her arrest. "If what you think I was doing was demonstrating, you will have a lot of people to arrest," she remarked about the incident.
The Capitol Police did not respond to the Guardian's request for comment regarding Rahman's account of the events during Trump's lengthy and combative State of the Union address, which included repeated false allegations about voter fraud and attacks on Joe Biden.
