President Donald Trump has reignited the controversy surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), sharing a report revealing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement withheld records concerning alleged immigration fraud because their release could interfere with ongoing “enforcement proceedings.”
Trump shared the report Sunday, thrusting longstanding allegations surrounding Omar’s immigration and marital history back into the national spotlight.
The report stemmed from a Freedom of Information Act request filed with ICE seeking records connected to any investigation into allegations of immigration fraud involving Omar.
ICE refused to turn over the records.
“ICE has determined that the information you requested is being withheld in full pursuant to Title 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A),” the agency said.
“Disclosure of any responsive records at this time could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
ICE further explained that the exemption applies to law-enforcement information when its release could disrupt such proceedings.
Trump’s decision to amplify the revelation immediately raised questions about what those proceedings could mean for Omar, a longtime political adversary of the president who was born in Somalia and entered the US as a refugee.
The controversy centers on Omar’s former marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
Omar married Ahmed Hirsi in a Muslim ceremony in 2002, though the pair were not legally married. They subsequently had children together.
After reportedly separating from Hirsi, Omar legally married Elmi, a British-Somali national, in 2009.
Omar’s critics have alleged for years that Elmi was actually her brother and that the marriage was intended to help him remain in the US.
Omar has vehemently denied the allegations.
“Insinuations that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is my brother are absurd and offensive,” she previously said.
Omar reportedly obtained a Muslim divorce from Elmi in 2011 before reuniting with Hirsi and having another child with him the following year. She formally divorced Elmi in 2017.
Questions were further raised in 2019 when the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board disclosed that Omar and Hirsi had filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 despite Omar still being legally married to Elmi, per Trending Politics.
The allegations have attracted renewed federal scrutiny under the Trump administration.
Border czar Tom Homan said in December that the administration was investigating allegations of immigration fraud involving Omar.
Trump subsequently said the Justice Department was “looking at” the Minnesota Democrat.
Vice President JD Vance was also questioned in May about whether Omar could eventually face an indictment.
“It certainly seems like something fishy is there,” Vance said, adding that the matter was something “the Department of Justice is looking at right now.”
The ICE disclosure followed a FOIA request filed in January seeking records concerning any investigation of Omar.
Rather than saying no responsive investigation existed, ICE invoked a law-enforcement exemption and warned that disclosure could interfere with “enforcement proceedings.”
Trump has now personally highlighted that language, placing new attention on the possibility of federal action involving Omar and the years-old immigration allegations against her.
