Federal investigators used a family text message from Rep. Ilhan Omar’s sister’s phone to secure a search warrant for the Minnesota Democrat’s Washington, D.C., home.
Homeland Security Investigations agents executed the warrant early Monday. They took Omar’s phone, passport, notebooks, and personal computers. Agents had seized the phone of her sister, Sahra Noor, earlier this year. Messages on that device gave a federal judge the details needed to approve the search of Omar’s residence. Agents spent hours at the house and carried out several boxes of materials.
Sister Skips Book Event Amid Fallout
Sahra Noor lives in Kenya and works as a health-care executive and author. She canceled a scheduled book-tour stop in Rochester, Minnesota, this week. Organizers said she cited a family emergency. Noor is promoting her memoir Salt in the Snow: A Somali Immigrant Story, which recounts the family’s journey from Somalia. Federal officials have issued grand-jury subpoenas to Noor and other relatives. The case is advancing before a grand jury in Minnesota.
What Federal Investigators Are Reviewing
The probe asks whether Omar or her late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, made false statements or left out key facts on immigration paperwork. The family arrived in the United States as refugees in 1995. Investigators are examining possible charges of immigration fraud, false statements, and conspiracy.
A central issue is Omar’s age at the time of her citizenship. She says she became a citizen at age 17 through her father’s naturalization in 2000. Public records once listed her birth year as 1981. That year would have made her 18 or older in 2000, which would have barred her from automatic derivative citizenship. In May 2019, after a political opponent highlighted the discrepancy, Omar’s congressional staff asked the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library to change the listed birth year to 1982. The library confirmed the request. Staff also sought updates on Wikipedia and the House of Representatives website. Omar’s office says the earlier year was simply wrong.
Investigators are also looking at her father’s background. Nur Omar Mohamed served as a high-ranking colonel under Somali dictator Siad Barre. Sources say he may have misrepresented parts of his identity or military service when he sought refugee status. Federal agents reportedly searched Omar’s trash for DNA evidence before the raid.
Possible Outcomes and Omar’s Response
The investigation could produce criminal charges or a civil denaturalization case. Officials could try to strip Omar of her citizenship and seek deportation. Homeland Security leaders and President Trump have discussed those possibilities publicly. A similar review of her file years earlier did not move forward because of insufficient evidence.
Omar faces no charges. She calls the actions an attempt to target a political opponent and an abuse of power. A spokeswoman said the administration was spreading “lie after lie” to justify an “extraordinary abuse of power.” Omar’s lawyers have demanded the return of seized items. They describe the search as neither justified nor lawful.
The timing, weeks before the midterms, has drawn attention. Long-standing Justice Department norms generally avoid overt investigative steps that could influence elections. Separate inquiries into Omar’s financial disclosures remain open. No charges have been filed in either matter.
