Search of Omar's home and the probe
Federal agents searched the Washington-area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, on Monday, 12 October, weeks before the November midterm elections in which she is seeking re-election. A Justice Department spokesperson said Homeland Security Investigations carried out the search under a court-authorized warrant the department had obtained, as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Investigators are trying to establish whether Omar or her family gave false information on the immigration paperwork used to secure her US citizenship. According to Axios, agents also seized her phone, and according to The New York Times, subpoenas went to some relatives. Omar's lawyers said on Friday, 16 October, that federal authorities ignored key limits a judge had placed on the search, a claim the Justice Department denies.
- Federal agents search Omar's Washington-area home under a court-authorized warrant
- Omar's lawyers accuse federal authorities of ignoring judge-set limits on the search
- Tom Homan says Omar could be denaturalized and deported
- Barack Obama condemns the investigation in a statement on X
Obama's rebuke
On Sunday, 18 October, Barack Obama posted a lengthy statement on X condemning the investigation. He argued that the government should not single out individuals because of their political views or what they say, and he described the probe as part of a wider pattern in which federal power is turned against people the president sees as enemies. Obama cited cases against New York's former attorney general, the former FBI director and Federal Reserve officials, and said even failed prosecutions can be costly and disruptive. He also rejected the central claim behind the case, arguing that Omar was 17 when her father was naturalized and therefore became a citizen automatically. Obama's post ran to more than 400 words, according to Axios.
The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president.
Administration officials weigh in
On Saturday, 17 October, Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, told Fox News that the administration could "of course" denaturalize Omar and deport her. Asked whether that was possible, he said the process is long and tedious but has been used before, and that it could happen if the evidence points that way.
If you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody.
Asked about other possible allegations, Homan declined to go into detail and said that question was one for the FBI. Separately, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office is investigating Omar's financial disclosures, even though a congressional watchdog had recommended in September that misconduct allegations about those filings be dismissed. The Washington Post reported that a 2019 review under Trump's first administration found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing and did not open a full investigation.
Omar, her family and the stakes
Omar, the first Somali American elected to Congress, has been one of the president's most outspoken critics and a frequent target of his public attacks. Trump has described Somali immigrants as "garbage" and urged them to leave the United States, the Washington Post reported. Omar was a child when her father completed the immigration paperwork now under scrutiny, and investigators are checking whether she was already 18 at that point. Omar has denounced the probe as a witch hunt, and her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, died in June 2020. Democrats have called the investigation an abuse of power, and critics point to its timing, with Omar on the ballot only weeks before the midterms.