OMM Newsroom
Federal agents searched the Washington home of US congresswoman Ilhan Omar on 12 October as part of what the Justice Department described as an ongoing federal criminal investigation. The precise focus of the inquiry has not been made public, according to the BBC.
The search warrant was approved by a court, the department said. Omar, who has represented Minnesota since 2018, called the raid “the latest escalation” in President Donald Trump’s “campaign of political intimidation”. Trump has denied being involved in the investigation.
Citizenship and finances under scrutiny
Agents from Homeland Security Investigations searched Omar’s home while she was there with her husband. “The Wall Street Journal” reported that investigators seized her cellphone, notebooks, personal computers and passport. “Fox News” has since reported that investigators issued more than a dozen subpoenas to members of her family.
Several US media outlets have reported that the inquiry concerns Omar’s citizenship and whether she misrepresented her age when she arrived in the United States in 1995. The reports say investigators are examining whether the age on her citizenship application differed from her actual age.
Her marriages have also drawn scrutiny. Trump and others have accused Omar of marrying her brother to obtain US citizenship; Omar has denied wrongdoing. Her finances have been examined in connection with her marriage to former Democratic political consultant Timothy Mynett. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro has said her office is investigating Omar’s financial disclosures.
Omar has called the investigations into her “complete shams”. Republicans have scrutinised her immigration records in the past. Earlier this year, South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace unsuccessfully sought a subpoena for those records.
Omar’s arrival in the United States
Mynett told “Fox News” that Omar came to the United States as a 12-year-old war refugee and said he had “no concerns” about her citizenship. Omar was born in Somalia and fled with her family to a refugee camp in Kenya. She arrived in the United States with her father and others in 1995 and became a naturalised citizen in 2000.
US media reports say investigators are examining whether her father stated on her citizenship application that she was 17 rather than 18. If she was 18 when he applied, she would have had to pursue a separate immigration process.
Omar’s father, Nur Omar Mohamed, initially settled with his family in Washington after arriving from Kenya, later moving to Minnesota. He worked as a cabdriver and postal worker. Omar described him as an educator and said he died in 2020 from complications related to Covid-19.
“The New York Post”, citing an Oxford University doctoral researcher, reported that Mohamed “misrepresented himself as a refugee” and had a decades-long military career, including a leadership role under former Somali President Siad Barre. Barre took power in a bloodless coup in 1969 and was driven from office in 1991. Historian and researcher Mohamed Haji Ingiriis told the newspaper that Mohamed was a full colonel in Barre’s military regime and “was never an educator”.
Omar’s citizenship could be revoked only through a denaturalisation lawsuit. The Justice Department must prove that a person materially lied during the citizenship application process. The BBC reported that the current investigation appears to be laying groundwork for such a case.
The Trump administration has pursued the detention and deportation of immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally, including some permanent residents and green card holders. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research organisation, has also reported a rise in denaturalisation lawsuits filed by the administration.
Trump has repeatedly called for Omar to be deported, telling her to “go back” to Somalia. At a rally in Ohio on Monday, he referred to the search and called her “a disaster”. He also made disparaging remarks about Somalis in the United States, prompting chants of “deport” from the crowd.
After the search, Omar wrote on X: “I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” She said Trump had targeted her with “baseless lies and smear campaigns” for 10 years and added: “I will not be silenced.” Trump has said the investigation has “nothing to do with me”.
The raid took place weeks before the November midterm elections, despite Justice Department precedent against taking action involving officials running for office so close to an election. Some of Omar’s Democratic colleagues condemned the search, saying she had faced “vile personal attacks and baseless accusations”. The BBC said it had contacted Omar for comment.
