Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says the town hall meeting she held at Washburn High School in Minneapolis on Thursday was the biggest attendance she’s had since she was elected in 2018.

About 500 people showed up, many of them voicing concern and anger about the Trump administration.

“What we’re hearing from constituents is that they want the Constitution, the attack on the Constitution, to stop,” Omar said during an interview with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Friday. “For us to enforce the checks and balances that are supposed to exist.”

Omar says she isn’t surprised town hall meetings held by Democrats and Republicans are heavily attended this month as lawmakers respond to budget cuts, immigration moves and federal government layoffs by the Trump administration.

“It just shows the level of anger that people have in this current moment. People want government working the way it’s supposed to. They want the executive to understand there are limits to your power. They want Congress to assert their Constitutional powers and they want respect for the judiciary.”

Omar also responded to posts from Elon Musk on his “X” social media platform, saying Omar is breaking the law by advising Somalians in this country illegally how to evade deportation and that she “hates America.”

When asked if it’s valid to criticize her for advising people how to avoid deportation, she didn’t back down. ”It’s nonsense. It’s silly. And you know Elon and I are both immigrants to this country and it looks like one of us has bothered to learn the laws of the land. It is completely within the Constitutional rights of people to have rights regardless of what their status is. We have due process.”

Omar also responded to past criticism from President Trump during his first term when he called her “unpatriotic.”

“She’s been very disrespectful to this country,” President Trump told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS in an interview in 2019. “She’s been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel.”

Omar dismisses the criticism. “As somebody who truly loves this country it’s ridiculous. I think that what he is doing is showing that he has no regard for anyone and the work that they do to help their communities in this country thrive.”

You can see the entire interview with Omar on “At Issue with Tom Hauser” on Sunday at 10 a.m.