Reports say investigators are examining Ilhan Omar’s age on decades-old immigration papers. Her office calls the probe baseless.
WASHINGTON – Federal investigators are examining whether Rep. Ilhan Omar or her late father altered her age on immigration paperwork, and officials say the inquiry is aimed at building a case to revoke her U.S. citizenship and ultimately deport her, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The newspaper cited U.S. officials and people familiar with the investigation. Omar’s office rejected the investigation as baseless, and she has previously denied committing immigration fraud. No charges have been announced, and the Journal did not report that anyone has filed a lawsuit to revoke her citizenship.
At issue is whether Omar or her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, misstated her birth date so that she would qualify for citizenship through his naturalization in 2000, according to the Journal and The Washington Post, which cited three people familiar with the matter. The Journal reported that the question is whether her age was changed on the citizenship application to show she was 17 rather than 18. If she was 17, she would have qualified automatically as a minor rather than having to pursue her own immigration process. Omar has said she became a citizen through her father’s naturalization.
The Journal reported that agents who searched Omar’s Washington-area home Monday seized her cellphone, passport, notebooks and computers, and that more than a dozen subpoenas have been issued, including to relatives, seeking testimony before a grand jury in Minnesota. One person who has seen the search warrant told the Post it listed potential charges of conspiracy, immigration fraud and false statements. One person told the Post that the Department of Homeland Security declined years ago to pursue an investigation based on similar allegations. Multiple outlets have reported that Omar’s staff sought to change her official birth year in public records from 1981 to 1982 after she was elected to Congress. Fox News noted that the discrepancy does not establish that she falsified records and that no report has shown it prompted Monday’s search.
Revoking citizenship requires court proceedings, and an investigation by itself does not strip anyone of citizenship or authorize deportation. Leon Fresco, a former Justice Department immigration official, told the Journal that prosecutors would face a difficult legal path. The Journal reported that the inquiry is part of a broader administration effort to denaturalize U.S. citizens. Time reported that officials have accused Omar of immigration fraud without presenting evidence. Allegations that she misrepresented her age were first raised in 2019 by political opponents, including a challenger in her 2022 primary, and have not been proven.
The investigation comes 19 days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Omar, D-Minn., is seeking a fifth term. Democrats have condemned Monday’s search as an abuse of power, and President Donald Trump has said he had nothing to do with it. Omar, whose family fled Somalia’s civil war, spent years in a Kenyan refugee camp and arrived in the United States in 1995, was first elected to Congress in 2018. She has said she is being targeted by Trump and his allies.
This report draws on information from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Time and Fox News.