Federal agents seized Rep. Ilhan Omar’s cellphone, passport, notebooks and personal computers during a raid on her Washington, DC, home Monday as the Trump administration builds a case that could strip the Minnesota Democrat of her citizenship and deport her.
Omar, 44, was at the bungalow with her husband, Tim Mynett, when Department of Homeland Security agents executed the search warrant, The Wall Street Journal reported. The congresswoman has long maintained she became a naturalized U.S. Citizen at age 17 when her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, was naturalized in 2000.
Sources with direct knowledge of the raid told The Post that the Justice Department is hunting for evidence that Omar’s citizenship claim is false. If investigators find her citizenship was procured by concealing a material fact or through willful misrepresentation — by Omar or her father — the government will seek denaturalization and deportation, one source confirmed.
Federal defense attorney Todd Spodek explained that criminal charges would apply only if alleged immigration fraud occurred within the past decade, while false statements carry a five-year statute of limitations. “Knowingly procuring naturalization unlawfully requires revocation of citizenship,” Spodek said. No member of Congress has ever been denaturalized.
Civil denaturalization faces no statute of limitations. President Trump’s DOJ has filed nearly 200 civil denaturalization cases since January 2025, according to an analysis by Democracy Forward. Just 20 of those cases have closed with defendants placed in deportation proceedings.
The Omar family fled Somalia’s civil war in the early 1990s, first to Kenya, then arrived in the United States in 1995. Omar’s father died of COVID-19 complications in 2020. More than a dozen grand jury subpoenas have been issued to her family members, including her sister, Sahra Noor.
Prosecutors in Minnesota are leading the immigration fraud probe, while the office of DC U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is pursuing a separate inquiry into Omar and Mynett’s finances, The Post confirmed Wednesday.
The investigation into Omar’s birthdate inconsistencies dates back several years. Some records list her birthdate as Oct. 4, 1981, while others cite the same date in 1982. If the 1981 date is accurate, Omar would have been a legal adult when her father gained citizenship, making her ineligible for the minor benefit of derivative naturalization.
The Journal reported Thursday that Homeland Security Investigations officials received tips about potential date manipulation during the Biden administration but declined to act due to insufficient evidence.
In spring 2019, shortly after Omar’s first election to the House, her staff pressed the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, and Wikipedia to record her birth as 1982 rather than 1981, The Post reported Tuesday. Months earlier, her 2018 campaign had said she lacked a birth certificate because of her family’s displacement by Somalia’s civil war.
Omar has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Her office fired back in a statement to the Journal Wednesday: “President Trump would love to eliminate one of the most effective progressive voices in Congress. There is no basis for this.”
Trump told reporters Monday he had “nothing to do” with the probe but lashed out at the congresswoman personally. “Just a complainer,” he said. “She comes from a country that is a non-country. And then she comes over here, and she complains about our Constitution.” He also called her “a totally crooked” politician and “a terrible person.”
The federal actions against Omar represent an extraordinary escalation in the administration’s use of denaturalization proceedings, which have historically targeted war criminals and terrorists rather than sitting elected officials.
Omar faces mounting legal exposure on multiple fronts as investigators in two jurisdictions pursue parallel inquiries into her immigration history and financial dealings.
Omar is expected to continue her congressional duties while the investigations proceed.