Aliya Rahman, a disabled U.S. citizen whom immigration agents previously dragged out of a car while she was on her way to a medical appointment, was arrested while attending President Donald Trump’s Feb. 24, 2026, State of the Union as a guest of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that officers arrested Rahman for “demonstrating” and refusing to sit down upon request. Rahman and her legal counsel said she was standing in silence and disputed law enforcement’s claims that she illegally disrupted the State of the Union address.
Some posts also claimed law enforcement officers injured Rahman during the arrest. A spokesperson for Rahman’s legal team said Rahman “was taken to the hospital for examination after being roughly handled by arresting Capitol Police officers” and received lidocaine for pain relief “since her shoulders were already injured from a previous assault by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis in January.” It was not possible to verify or disprove these allegations.
On Feb. 25, 2026, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., alleged on social media that U.S. Capitol Police arrested her guest, Aliya Rahman, at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Rahman is a
Omar said Rahman “stood up silently in the gallery during the president’s speech for a short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing. For that, she was forcibly removed, despite warning officers about her injured shoulders and ultimately charged with ‘Unlawful Conduct.'”
“The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy,” Omar wrote in an X post. “I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred.”
My guest, Aliya Rahman, stood up silently in the gallery during the president’s speech for a short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing. For that, she was forcibly removed, despite warning officers about her injured shoulders and ultimately charged with… — Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) February 25, 2026
Posts spreading Omar’s allegations spread on social media, including via Facebook (screenshotted), Reddit and Threads. Snopes readers searched our website for information on whether Rahman was arrested.
U.S. Capitol Police and Rahman’s legal counsel both confirmed via email that the agency’s officers arrested Rahman
The statement from U.S. Capitol Police said law enforcement arrested Rahman for failing to abide by the event’s rules against demonstrating:
All State of the Union tickets clearly explain that demonstrating is prohibited. At approximately 10:07 p.m., a person in the House Gallery started demonstrating during the State of the Union Address. The guest was told to sit down, but refused to obey our lawful orders. It is illegal to disrupt the Congress and demonstrate in the Congressional Buildings, so 43-year-old Aliya M. Rahman of Minneapolis, MN, was arrested for D.C. Code §10-503.16 – Unlawful Conduct, Disruption of Congress.
In an emailed statement, Rahman’s lead attorney, Alexa Van Brunt of the MacArthur Justice Center, said Rahman
“There is nothing unlawful about standing in silence and this is a blatant abuse of power. She was not disruptive or disrespectful. She was not holding a sign, making gestures, or wearing protest gear,” said Van Brunt’s statement, which we received from Jasmine
Van Brunt said Rahman was released just before 4 a.m. the day after her arrest.
U.S. Capitol Police did not immediately return an inquiry as to whether any footage exists of the arrest, and we found no evidence of such footage published by reputable news outlets. As such, we cannot confirm what, exactly, Rahman was doing at the time of her arrest. Credible pictures of the arrest from photojournalism database Getty Images do not show her holding any signage. Other people stood at various points of Trump’s State of the Union address — and not just to clap (see the woman in red at 18:38 and 1:11:24 for examples).
Some online posts also claimed the officers injured Rahman. While Omar said Rahman was “taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment,” Omar did not allege that Rahman experienced any injuries. Razeghi said in an email that Rahman went to the hospital “for examination after being roughly handled by arresting Capitol Police officers.”
“She received lidocaine for pain relief since her shoulders were already injured from a previous assault by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis in January,” Razeghi wrote.
Razeghi declined to share Rahman’s medical records, stating that she would like to keep them “private at this time.” This meant that we cannot independently fact-check whether Rahman was injured or the extent of any potential injuries.
Rahman identified herself as a disabled person with autism and a traumatic brain injury during her Feb. 3 testimony (transcript) to Congress about her Jan. 13 encounter with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The incident in Rahman’s words
In a Feb. 25 interview with reporter Amy Goodman for progressive news program “Democracy Now!,” Rahman said that prior to her arrest, she stood up “at the moment that I heard this man say some of the most racist things I have heard come out of any leader’s mouth about the people of my city, and continue to trash talk my state of Minnesota and glorify [the Department of Homeland Security], the people who did this to me and who are being allowed to roam free on the streets.” (see 3:49).
Rahman also described the incident during her interview in detail, starting at 2:09:
I was not just removed and arrested. I was removed so physically, that two other attendees upstairs attempted to intervene in officers pulling on my shoulders after I told them I have a torn rotator cuff tendon and multiple cartilage tears in both of my shoulders. That is what happened in the audio you just played. That is why I cannot lift my arms normally. Two women in the gallery — and thank you to the woman in the white shirt with the red writing who said, ‘I need you to take your hands off of her and just let her walk with her cane.’
They did not do that and only when their own sergeant intervened in a back stairwell of that building to say, ‘Stop. We need to get her medical care and a wheelchair,’ did they stop tugging on me while, again, I was saying ‘disabled.’
Amy, would you like to know why I was removed and arrested? The sergeant of arms told me it’s because I was standing up. Silently. No buttons, no facial expressions, no gestures, no signs. Not one sound. Standing up.
There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union and they are sit down and stand up. All kinds of people were standing up all night. Me too.
The full interview is available below.