Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is at the center of a federal criminal investigation into whether false information was used in immigration paperwork for her and her family.
Agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, searched Omar's Washington home in a predawn raid on October 12. They removed boxes of documents and seized her phone, computers and passport. The Justice Department said the agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation, but gave no further details.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has since called the probe a "strong case." He said investigators expect to present it to a grand jury and that agents executed multiple search warrants on the day of the raid. Several of Omar's relatives have received grand jury subpoenas, according to CBS News. A day after the raid, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed that Omar is also the subject of a second investigation.
According to reports, investigators are examining two main allegations:
- Her age. Investigators are reviewing whether dates were changed on official forms when Omar arrived in the U.S. as a 12-year-old refugee in 1995. The paperwork in question was reportedly filled out by her late father when she was a child.
- Her 2009 marriage. The probe is also examining long-standing claims that Omar entered a sham marriage with her brother to help him immigrate to the U.S. Mullin and other administration officials have repeated the accusation publicly.
Omar has not been charged with a crime and denies any wrongdoing, calling the investigation politically motivated. "This raid by Trump's DHS is an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies," said her communications director, Jacklyn Rogers.
Omar, 44, was born in Somalia and fled the civil war with her family at age 8. She spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before arriving in the U.S., and became a citizen at 17. First elected in 2018, she was the first Somali American in Congress and, together with Rashida Tlaib, one of the first two Muslim women in the House. She is a member of "the Squad" of progressive lawmakers and has drawn heavy criticism over her statements on Israel, including remarks widely condemned as antisemitic.
The raid came three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, in which Omar is seeking reelection. House Democratic leaders condemned it as political persecution.
