Federal agents searched the Washington-area home of Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and one of President Trump’s most frequent targets, early on Monday as part of a criminal investigation.
The search was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations, the criminal investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
The investigation centers on immigration paperwork tied to Ms. Omar’s childhood, documents completed by her late father when she was a child, CBS News reported, citing sources. The Justice Department is assisting HSI in the inquiry.
The Justice Department confirmed in a statement on Monday that HSI agents had executed a judicially authorized search warrant in the Washington area. “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the department said, offering no other details. A message left with the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned, according to the AP.
Ms. Omar’s office said in a statement that she had “done nothing wrong” and called the raid an “outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies.”
“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” Ms. Omar wrote on social media on Monday, adding in a separate post, “I’m ok” and “I will not be silenced.” “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns,” she wrote. “This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
The search follows public statements from administration officials. Vice President JD Vance said in May that the administration would investigate Ms. Omar over allegations of immigration fraud, which she has denied. “It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody’s entitled to equal justice under the laws,” Mr. Vance told reporters at the time. “So we’re going to investigate it. We’re going to take a look at it. If we think there’s a crime, we’re going to prosecute that crime.”
Tom Homan, the White House border czar, confirmed on Fox News last month that there was an “ongoing criminal investigation” into the congresswoman. “I’m confirming that ICE is, yeah — look, I said months ago that there’s something that’s been reported and needs to be looked at,” Mr. Homan said. Ms. Omar said then that she had not been contacted in connection with any investigation.
Ms. Omar, 44, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, which includes Minneapolis. Elected to the House in 2018, she belongs to the group of progressive lawmakers known as The Squad. Republicans have questioned her past since before her election, including assertions that she had married her brother and committed immigration fraud. She has called the allegations “disgusting lies.”
The House Democratic leadership rallied behind Ms. Omar on Monday. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, Representative Katherine Clark, the whip, and Representative Pete Aguilar, the caucus chairman, called the raid “deeply disturbing” and said it “raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries.”
HSI holds jurisdiction over federal offenses including immigration document fraud, identity fraud and immigration benefit fraud, and unlike ICE’s deportation operations, its agents conduct criminal investigations and execute federal search warrants. Details of what investigators sought or found on Monday were not immediately clear, and Al Jazeera reported that no charges have been announced.