A federal judge in Washington, D.C., approved the warrant. By Monday morning, Homeland Security Investigations agents were inside Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home in the nation’s capital.
The Department of Justice put out a statement the same day describing the operation.
“Today in the Washington, D.C., area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice,” it said.
“This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation,” the statement concluded.
Agents left with the Minnesota Democrat’s phone, NBC News reported, citing two people familiar with the investigation. Investigators were also seen removing boxes from the residence.
According to those two sources, the investigation involves potential immigration-related crimes. One source described what the agents pointed to, and NBC relayed it.
“Federal agents cited a number of potential immigration crimes, including conspiracy and false statements in immigration paperwork, one of the people said,” the outlet added.
The New York Times reported that authorities have also issued several subpoenas. Those subpoenas involve members of Omar’s family and other associates, including her sister, Sahra Noor.
A source told the New York Post that “compelling evidence” of a federal crime exists.
The Post reported that the probe might connect to unverified claims that Omar lied about her age to obtain U.S. citizenship.
Former assistant U.S. attorney Jonathan Fahey told the Post what a signed warrant means in legal terms.
“The big picture here is a federal judge in Washington, D.C., signed off on a search warrant. That means there’s probable cause that a federal crime was committed, and there would be evidence of that crime in the area to be searched, which in this case was Representative Omar’s home.”
The age question rests on a timeline that stretches back more than three decades. The Post laid out Omar’s own account of how she became a citizen.
“Omar claims she received automatic U.S. citizenship in 2000 at age 17, granted to minor-age children of naturalized parents — in this case her father, Nur Said Mohamed Elmi, who fled to the U.S. in 1995 from war-torn Somalia,” the Post said.
Congressional records currently list Omar’s birth date as October 1982, according to the Post. Under that date, she was 17 when she naturalized.
The claim that she was older first surfaced publicly in 2019. Minnesota resident A.J. Kern asserted in a video that Omar was actually 18 or 19 in 2000.
Kern said the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library’s website changed Omar’s official birth year two days after his video went viral.
The listing moved from 1981 to 1982, he said. Kern pointed to archived versions of the site that he said showed the revision.
Federal officials had already signaled interest in Omar’s background before Monday.
In September, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin spoke about the possibility of action against her and her relatives.
“There may be more to this — the whole family migration and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with. But all of this, we’re investigating,” he said.
Mullin said the evidence would decide whether the inquiry moves forward.
“If we actually move a case forward, it’s not a political case. It’s actually a case because they did things wrong,” the secretary said.
He also spoke about what happens when an immigrant gives false information to the government.
“If you decided to break the law, or lie on the information you gave the United States … but you didn’t tell us who you actually were; you lied about certain things, about your application, those things, there’s no expiration to that,” Mullin continued.
He then described the consequence he said would follow a finding of wrongdoing. “If we can prove it — that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we’ll deport you.”
None of the reports cited here described criminal charges against Omar.
They also did not include a response from her. The Justice Department has characterized the investigation as ongoing.
