Federal Agents Search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Home in a Criminal Investigation

Federal agents searched the Washington-area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar early Monday as part of a criminal investigation, the Justice Department said. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the criminal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, carried out a judicially authorized search warrant that the department had obtained. “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the department said, declining to say more. Homeland Security referred questions to the Justice Department.

The nature and scope of the investigation were not immediately clear, the Associated Press reported. CBS News, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the inquiry centers on Omar’s immigration paperwork from her childhood, which was completed by her late father, and that investigators are examining possible false statements and immigration fraud. CBS also reported that Attorney General Todd Blanche was personally aware of the search and that the department consulted its Public Integrity Section. None of those details has been confirmed publicly by the department, and Omar has not been charged with any crime.

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat first elected in 2018, denied wrongdoing. Her office said she had “done nothing wrong” and called the search an “outrageous abuse of power.” In a post on social media, she wrote that she was all right and that she “will not be silenced,” calling the search the latest step in President Trump’s campaign to intimidate her and an attempt to “target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.”

House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar called the search “deeply disturbing” and said it raised serious questions about the use of the federal government against Trump’s adversaries. Trump said he “had nothing to do with” it. “I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ,” he said, according to CBS News.

Administration officials have discussed an investigation of Omar publicly for months. Vice President JD Vance said in a podcast interview, without offering evidence, that the administration believed she had committed immigration fraud, the AP reported. In September, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin described an ongoing investigation related in part to whether she lied on immigration forms, according to the AP, and the border czar, Tom Homan, also said a criminal investigation was underway, CBS reported. Omar has called such allegations “disgusting lies.” Over the weekend, Trump attacked her upbringing at a rally in Tennessee.

The timing has drawn particular attention. The search came about three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Omar is seeking another term representing Minnesota’s 5th District, which includes Minneapolis. The Justice Department has historically avoided public investigative steps involving candidates within 60 days of an election, the AP noted.

The department’s defenders point out that a federal judge approved the warrant, which requires a finding of probable cause, and argue that members of Congress are not exempt from criminal law because they are on the ballot. Omar’s allies counter that the officials who oversee the case had prejudged it in public long before any evidence was presented to a court.