Federal agents searched Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home on Monday as part of a criminal investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The search was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations agents, said the people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
THE SEARCH
The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that HSI agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the department in the Washington, D.C., area but provided no other details.
“This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the department said. A video posted by Fox showed what appeared to be law enforcement in HSI jackets at what Fox News said was Omar’s Washington DC residence.
More details about the investigation and its focus were not immediately clear, though Vice President JD Vance last May signaled that the Trump administration would investigate Omar for immigration fraud allegations, which she has denied.
THE CONTEXT
Republicans have raised questions about Omar’s past since before she was even elected, including asserting that she had married her brother and committed immigration fraud.
Omar has broadly denied the allegations as “disgusting lies”.
Fox News reported based on unnamed sources familiar with the matter that agents were examining the immigration paperwork that the congresswoman’s father filled out when she was a child.
“It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody’s entitled to equal justice under the laws,” Vance told reporters in May. “So we’re going to investigate it. We’re going to take a look at it. If we think there’s a crime, we’re going to prosecute that crime”.
THE POLITICAL BACKDROP
The search of Omar’s DC home comes just three weeks before a crucial midterm Election Day, and will surely lead to new accusations that Trump was using the government for his own political ends.
Donald Trump and key allies have accused Omar of fraud related to her family’s immigration history, fantasizing openly about denaturalizing her and expelling her from the country.
Trump in December accused her of having “married her brother” and said she “should be thrown the hell out of our country,” a reference to years-old but unsubstantiated claim that Omar sought to help her ex-husband obtain immigration papers via a sham marriage.
Days later, his “border czar” Tom Homan said: “We’re pulling the records now,” referring to Omar, and said a fraud investigator in Homeland Security Investigations would look into the matter.
Omar has for years denied unsubstantiated rumors from Trump and others about herself and her family, including the accusation that her ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, is in fact her brother, and that the marriage was part of an effort to earn him immigration status.
WHO IS ILHAN OMAR?
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Omar, 44, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, including Minneapolis. She was first elected to the House in 2018 and has been known as a member of what’s called The Squad of female lawmakers known for their progressive views and pointed opposition to the Republican president.
Her family came to the US in 1995, when she was a teenager, after securing asylum. Neither Omar nor her congressional office has issued an immediate public statement since the morning search. ValidViewNetwork reports that the investigation is ongoing. No charges have been filed against Omar in connection with the probe.
