By Zachary Stieber
Federal agents on Oct. 12 searched the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as part of a criminal investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press.
The search was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations agents, said the people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity. More details about the investigation were not immediately clear.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Homeland Security Investigations, referred questions about the search to the Justice Department.
The Department of Justice told news outlets in a statement that agents with Homeland Security Investigations executed a warrant approved by a judge in the Washington area.
“This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the department said.
“I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” Omar wrote on X. She added later, “I will not be silenced.”
House Democratic leaders condemned the search.
“The Trump administration’s raid on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s home is deeply disturbing and raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said in a joint statement.
Omar, 44, moved to the United States in the 1990s. She became a state representative in Minnesota in 2017, and a U.S. representative in 2019.
She represents Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, which covers Minneapolis and some nearby areas.
Top Trump administration officials have said that Omar, a native of Somalia, may have violated immigration laws.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the White House in May that the Department of Justice was investigating Omar.
“You read the things about Ilhan Omar and about who she married and whether she didn’t marry this person or that person. It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody’s entitled to equal justice under the laws,” Vance said during a press conference when asked about Omar.
“So we’re going to investigate it. We’re going to take a look at it. If we think that there’s a crime, we’re going to prosecute that crime.”
Omar’s office in March dismissed Vance’s comments as fabricated and defamatory.
Connor McNutt, Omar’s chief of staff, said that it was “a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract from” the war in Iran, escalating gas prices, and dropping poll numbers.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in September, speaking with podcaster Benny Johnson, said that officials know Omar “married her brother to try to bring him to the United States,” and that the brother now lives in London.
“We feel that … there may be more to this, the whole family migration, and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with,” Mullin said at the time. “We’re investigating.”
Omar married one of her brothers, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the Judicial Watch organization said in a 2019 ethics complaint against the congresswoman.
Omar has denied allegations that her first husband, Elmi, is also one of her siblings. Elmi has also said he was not related to Omar.
Omar married her third husband, consultant Tim Mynett, in 2020.
Chase Smith and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
