Federal investigators revisit Ilhan Omar immigration case after 2019 review
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A 2024 raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home revives a federal probe into her and her father's immigration records, which was previously closed in 2019 without finding evidence of fraud.
Federal officials conducted a search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's Minnesota residence last week as part of a renewed investigation into whether she or her late father provided false information on immigration paperwork. The inquiry focuses on alleged discrepancies in Omar's birth date and her father's claimed military service in Somalia, issues that were also examined in a 2019 review.
In 2019, during President Donald Trump’s first term, a political appointee asked immigration authorities to examine Omar’s immigration record and that of her family, who arrived in the United States as Somali refugees. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, found no evidence of wrongdoing and closed the case.
"I think her citizenship is solid and there wasn’t any fraud there," said a former official familiar with the earlier investigation, as reported by The Washington Post.
Omar said the raid resulted in the seizure of items including an old phone, her youngest daughter’s phone, notebooks, a camera, and a Somali phrase book for children. She described the seizure of seventeen items, many of them personal belongings, as "bizarre."
The immigration probe coincides with a separate investigation into Omar’s financial disclosure statements filed with Congress last year. A prior review of those disclosures during the Joe Biden administration was halted.
Omar has denied the allegations, characterizing the raid as a political effort by the Trump administration to target opponents ahead of the midterm elections. She also expressed concerns for her family’s safety, noting that the public disclosure of her address and prior death threats make it untenable to remain in the home.