(José Niño, Headline USA) Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, ridiculed Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., after a video re-emerged showing her describing World War II as “World War Eleven.” Lee posted: “‘World War Eleven’ — Yes, that was deadly.”
“World War Eleven”
Yes, that was deadly pic.twitter.com/mEyxsPii4K
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 27, 2026
The original footage originated from a Jan. 22, 2025 press conference where Omar, accompanied by fellow House Democrats, advocated for repealing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. President Trump had cited the statute to accelerate deportations of suspected Venezuelan gang members. During her statement, Omar declared that the Act was last employed “to detain and deport German, Japanese, Italian immigrants during World War Eleven,” seemingly misinterpreting the Roman numeral II as eleven, before quickly correcting herself. “Oh … two … sorry,” she said, laughing, according to Internewscast.
The footage resurfaced and gained widespread attention around Sunday and Monday, spreading extensively on X and other platforms, per a Ground News report. Critics exploited the moment as an embarrassing blunder. Supporters maintained it was a simple verbal mistake that Omar immediately corrected, which critics were magnifying without proper context.
Lee’s post joined a surge of commentary from conservative politicians and commentators. Conservative commentator Natalie Winters also commented, stating the error “shows these people don’t understand geopolitical world affairs or frankly history.”
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was most recently invoked during World War II, when President Franklin Roosevelt deployed it to authorize detention and deportation of foreign nationals from enemy nations—German, Japanese, and Italian citizens—following the Pearl Harbor attack. Omar has attempted to repeal the statute, reintroducing the Neighbors Not Enemies Act for this purpose.
Omar’s office provided no response to requests for comment following the viral reaction to the footage.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
