- ‘For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations,’ said joint statement issued from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, other top congressional Democrats
- Federal agents executed court-ordered warrant in Washington, though no details were released on scope of criminal probe
Federal agents searched the Washington, D.C., home of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar before dawn on Monday as part of a federal criminal investigation involving her immigration status, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department said Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the department. It described the action as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation but declined to provide further details.
“Today in the Washington, D.C., area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice,” the department said in a statement provided to Arab News. “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
Department of Homeland Security officials told Arab News that the Justice Department was leading the investigation.
The search came weeks before November’s midterm elections, in which Omar is seeking re-election in Minnesota’s 5th District. It also renewed attention to repeated claims by President Donald Trump and senior administration officials that Omar entered the US illegally - allegations she has denied and that have not been established in court.
Omar, who was born in Somalia, immigrated to the US in 1995 and became a naturalized citizen in 2000, said the search was politically motivated.
“I’m OK,” she wrote on X. “Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For 10 years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.”
Top congressional Democrats criticized the timing of the search, noting that the Justice Department has historically sought to avoid visible investigative actions involving political candidates in the final weeks of an election campaign.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other senior Democrats said in a joint statement: “For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations. Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected member of Congress and her family.”
White House border czar Tom Homan publicly acknowledged in September that an investigation involving Omar was underway, but declined to provide details.
The search follows a broader federal push to investigate fraud schemes in Minnesota involving billions of dollars in pandemic-era public funds, including money intended to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The original $250 million investigation began under President Joe Biden in 2021 and 2022. The Trump administration has expanded enforcement efforts, opened additional investigations and made the issue a national political priority.
Prosecutors have alleged that schemes involved fake meal-distribution sites, reimbursement claims for meals that were never served, fabricated attendance records and invoices, shell companies used to launder payments, and the purchase of real estate, luxury vehicles and goods abroad. The investigations have focused heavily on networks of defendants of Somali descent, though not all defendants are Somali. They have also raised questions about oversight by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and state agencies responsible for distributing federal assistance.
Aimee Bock, founder of the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future, told Arab News in May that Omar’s role in the fraud should be investigated. Bock was convicted for her role in the pandemic-era feeding scheme and has described herself as a scapegoat.
No federal charges, indictments or imprisonment have been brought against Omar in connection with the Feeding Our Future case. Omar has repeatedly declined Arab News’ requests to respond to the allegations.
Media reports have also alleged that Omar married her brother to obtain immigration benefits. She has repeatedly denied the claim, and it has not been established in court.
Trump referenced Omar as recently as this past weekend
The search was carried out by agents with Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
A DHS spokesperson referred questions to the Justice Department, which said in a statement that HSI agents had executed a judicially authorized search warrant in the Washington, D.C., area related to an ongoing federal criminal investigation. It provided no other details.
The street around Omar’s home was blocked off on Monday morning as HSI agents carried out the search, with some removing boxes from “seized property evidence.”
The operation came just two days after Trump referred pejoratively to Omar at a rally in Tennessee as coming from a country of “crime and squalor” and suggested that Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her.
Vance has in the past accused Omar of committing immigration fraud, an allegation she has denied, and has said that the White House was looking for pathways to investigate her.
Omar has long been a target for Republicans
Omar, who was first elected to the House in 2018, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, including Minneapolis. She is part of The Squad of progressive lawmakers who are a vibrant political force on the left wing of Congress but have also endured repeated attacks from Trump, dating back to his first term. She was one of the first two Muslim-American women in the House and the first African refugee to be elected to Congress.
When Republicans swept control of the House in 2023, they voted to oust Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, citing her anti-Israel remarks.
In January, Trump lashed out at Omar during a rally in Iowa hours before an assailant sprayed the congresswoman during her own town hall meeting in Minneapolis with a substance that turned out to be vinegar. The attacker was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
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.”
Vance told reporters in May: ”It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody’s entitled to equal justice under the laws. 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. And that’s something the Department of Justice is looking at right now.”
In an interview last March with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, Vance said without offering evidence that “we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.”
Omar’s office at the time dismissed Vance’s claims as fabricated and defamatory, saying in a statement: "This is rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to ‘create stories’ to redirect the media.”
Last month, when the podcaster Johnson reminded Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about Vance’s past comments on Omar and asked whether anything would happen as a result of that investigation, Mullin responded: “Something’s going to happen.”
He cited an “ongoing investigation” that he suggested was looking at potential fraud in the family’s immigration paperwork.
“If we actually move a case forward, it’s not a political case. It’s actually a case because they did things wrong,” Mullin said. “If you decided to break the law or law on the information that you gave to the United States ... there’s no expiration to that.”
With AP
