In April 2026, a video clip spread online purportedly showing Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota misreading "World War II" as "World War Eleven."
"The last time the alien enemies act was invoked it was used to detain and deport German, Japanese, Italian immigrants during World War Eleven," Omar said in the clip.
The clip spread across social media platforms including X, Instagram and Reddit. One Facebook post (archived) received more than 170,000 reactions, as of this writing.
The video clip was authentic, though edited to omit context; therefore the quote is correctly attributed to Omar.
On Jan. 22, 2025, Omar did misread the phrase "World War II" as "World War Eleven" while speaking at a news conference to introduce legislation meant to repeal the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Omar was a sponsor of the bill, called the Neighbors Not Enemies Act.
The full footage of Omar's short speech is publicly available on C-SPAN and YouTube. In it, she instantly corrects herself after saying "World War Eleven" and chuckles at her mistake.
She said (at 0:21): "The last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked it was used to detain and deport German, Japanese, Italian immigrants during World War Eleven. Two, sorry [chuckling]."
Many highly circulated posts not only omitted the key context of her self-correction, but mislabeled the 2025 clip as "breaking news."
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was signed into law by then-President James Madison in anticipation of war with France. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked the 18th-century law to justify detaining German, Japanese and Italian people in the U.S.
Given the context of the bill's history, it's clear Omar intended to say "World War II," not "World War Eleven."
It's unclear exactly why the 2025 clip resurfaced in April 2026. Omar's finances were in the political spotlight at that time, as she claimed there were accounting errors in documents she previously submitted to Congress.