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By Daniel Orton, Hugh Cameron, Joshua Rhett Miller, and Hannah Parry
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Representative Ilhan Omar denounced a federal raid Monday as politically motivated hours after agents searched her Washington home.
"Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement," Omar wrote on X. "For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced."
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Jacklyn Rogers, Omar’s communications director, characterized the raid as an “outrageous" abuse of power.
“For a decade, Donald Trump has relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with inflammatory rhetoric, repeatedly putting a target on her back,” Rogers told Newsweek in a statement. “Now, those attacks have escalated to a pointless federal raid. The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong. No president should be able to use the power of the federal government to intimidate his political enemies.”
President Trump acknowledged the raid late Monday when asked if he had known about the operation in advance.
"Well, I understand they’re looking at her very carefully," Trump told reporters. "I've always found her to be totally crooked personally, but that has nothing to do with me. I think she's a terrible person. She’s just a complainer — she comes from a country that is a non-country."
Homeland Security agents searched Omar’s Washington, D.C., home earlier Monday, marking a significant escalation in federal scrutiny of the Minnesota Democrat just over three weeks before Election Day. The department confirmed that the search was part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation but did not publicly provide a detailed account of the evidence or identify all potential targets.
“Today in the Washington, D.C., area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice,” a Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson told Newsweek. “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
The warrant lists several potential immigration offenses under investigation, including false statements and fraud in immigration paperwork, as well as a general conspiracy charge, The New York Times reported, citing a person familiar with the document. Newsweek has not independently reviewed the warrant.
In response to Newsweek’s request for comment, the Department of Homeland Security said: “We refer you to the Department of Justice.”
In a video obtained by Fox News, an unidentified person asks an HSI officer outside Omar's residence whether the operation was “an illegal immigration raid.” The officer replied, “No, it’s not,” but described the scene only as “police activity.” Asked directly whether agents were raiding the congresswoman's home, the officer said, “I’m not going to discuss anything with you.”
Why Is Ilhan Omar’s Home Being Searched?
The search warrant reportedly identifies several possible immigration offenses under investigation, but it remains unclear precisely what conduct federal authorities are examining or whether Omar herself is suspected of committing a crime. The search, however, follows months of federal scrutiny concerning Omar's immigration history.
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Ilhan Omar Investigation: DHS Chief Reveals New Details About Probe
Last month, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said authorities were examining Omar’s immigration history, including the long-running allegation that she married her brother to help him enter the U.S. Omar has repeatedly denied the allegation, which has not been substantiated.
"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.
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Earlier this year, Vice President JD Vance said that the DOJ was investigating Omar, again over alleged immigration fraud. The comments came as fraud in Minnesota became a national topic, and after Omar had been faced with accusations of involvement in the “Feeding Our Future” scandal, in which a nonprofit secured $250 million in federal reimbursements by lying about pandemic-era activities.
“Any claim that I had knowledge of this scheme is flat-out false," Omar said in a statement shared with Newsweek at the time. “As I stated from the beginning, stealing millions of dollars under the guise of feeding hungry children to bankroll lavish lifestyles and extravagant expenses is reprehensible."
Her finances and those of her husband have also come under scrutiny in recent years. In mid-2025, Omar filed an annual financial disclosure form that put her family assets at between $6 million and $30 million, a surge from the previous year that would have placed her among the wealthiest Democrats in the House.
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Following scrutiny, however, Omar revised the filing, which is common among members of Congress, significantly downgrading the value of her assets. Her representatives said that this was due to "incomplete information" originally being provided by the accountants of her husband, Tim Mynett.
“The accounting error created a misleading picture of far greater wealth," Jacklyn Rogers, a spokesperson for Omar, told Newsweek in April. "The congresswoman amended her disclosures voluntarily as soon as the discrepancy was identified. The amended disclosure is now complete and accurate.”
The Office of Congressional Conduct investigated the discrepancy but last month dismissed any misconduct allegations, Omar's office said.
Reaction to the Search
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin described the search as politically motivated and defended Omar.
“A new low for the Trump administration: raiding the home of a U.S. congresswoman weeks out from Election Day,” Martin wrote on X.
“This is the latest in a series of bigoted and unfounded attacks against my friend,” he added. “Ilhan is a fighter who will not back down. I am proud to stand with her.”
Republican Representative Nancy Mace, meanwhile, suggested without evidence that the search concerned allegations about Omar’s immigration history, citing records she tried to subpoena in Congress and repeating the unsubstantiated allegation that Omar married her brother.
“This morning HSI raided her home with a judicially authorized warrant, presumably over the same paperwork,” she added. “If the fraud is proven, she should be denaturalized and deported home to Somalia.”
Democratic strategist Mike Nellis said the timing of the search represented a break with established practice and accused the administration of using the investigation to target Omar.
“DHS typically avoids operations like this so close to an election,” Nellis wrote on X. “That’s another norm shattered, and Republicans will regret tearing it up someday.”
“They know the immigration stuff with Omar is bulls***,” he added. “This raid was part harassment, part fishing expedition to dig up something embarrassing.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations also condemned Monday’s raid as a “obvious act” of political persecution.
“President Trump has spent years obsessively smearing Rep. Omar and demanding that law enforcement target her,” CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad told Newsweek in a statement. “So have other anti-Muslim extremists who cannot stand the sight of an accomplished Black woman wearing a hijab and speaking up for human rights while serving her constituents in the halls of Congress. Today’s raid is undoubtedly a result of those demands.”
Who Is Ilhan Omar?
Omar, 44, has represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District since 2019, having secured 78 percent of the vote over Republican candidate Jennifer Zielinski in 2018. Prior to that, Omar served in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
She currently serves on several House committees, including the House Budget Committee and the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Since entering Congress, Omar has cultivated a reputation as one of the most outspoken progressives in her party, and is a member of “The Squad”—an unofficial group of four female Democratic lawmakers elected in 2018: Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
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Omar was born in Somalia but fled the country at age 8, later becoming the first Somali American elected to Congress. However, her heritage and journey to national prominence have made her a target of Republican attacks during her political career, including from President Donald Trump.
Trump was criticized during his first term for saying that Democratic congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
In November 2025, Trump posted to Truth Social that Omar should “go back!” in response to a video of her speaking at an event in Somalia.
In January, Trump wrote that she "should be in jail, or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia.” Omar responded on X, writing: "Sorry, Trump, your support is collapsing and you’re panicking. Right on cue, you’re deflecting from your failures with lies and conspiracy theories about me. Years of ‘investigations’ have found nothing.”
Can Ilhan Omar Be Deported?
As a naturalized U.S. citizen, Omar cannot be deported unless her citizenship is revoked through a formal court process proving that it was obtained fraudulently.
During a podcast interview in March, Vance said that the Trump administration believes Omar "definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.”
However, no criminal charges have been filed and no denaturalization proceedings relating to immigration fraud have yet been publicly disclosed.
Ilhan Omar Reelection, What the Polls Show
Omar is seeking another term in the House in November, having won her primary in August with more than 80 percent of the vote. She is favored to win against Republican John Nagel, a former state trooper.
The polling aggregator Decision Desk HQ currently puts her win probability at 99 percent with a projected margin of +64. All other major forecasters list Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District as a safe seat for Democrats.
Update, 11:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Geoffrey Rowland.
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