DHS Raids Rep. Ilhan Omar's Home as Administration Probes Her Citizenship

Department of Homeland Security agents raided Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, DC, home last week as the Trump administration investigates whether the Minnesota Democrat obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud. Omar has not been indicted or charged. Federal authorities removed 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a camera and a Somali phrase book for her kids. Omar arrived from Somalia at age 12. One allegation under examination is that her father misstated her age on immigration paperwork, saying 17 rather than 18, which let her gain citizenship through his naturalization. Another, long circulated in conservative media, is that her ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, is her brother. The government reportedly obtained her DNA from discarded garbage, though it has denied that method. The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is pursuing denaturalization and removal, never before tried against a member of Congress. President Trump said she used a fake name to be sworn in and must resign. A federal filing lists her as Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, also known as Ilhan Abdullahi Omar. She won her district two years ago with nearly three-quarters of the vote.

The right-leaning Fox News and The Federalist center on Omar's identity and eligibility. Fox relays Trump's remarks, the name in the federal filing and the list of seized items, and notes her strong district. The Federalist argues her autobiography and government records suggest she was an adult when her father gained citizenship in 2000, so either the book or her account is false. The left-leaning The Nation and The New Republic cast the case as part of a broader push for mass denaturalization and as an assault on the constitutional order. The Nation stresses that she has not been charged and that the government denied the garbage-DNA account. The New Republic quotes Rep. Pramila Jayapal on investigating the case and cutting funds, and says Rep. Jamie Raskin would chair Judiciary in a Democratic majority. Both sides cite the raid and the citizenship inquiry. Alternative and independent outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left- and right-leaning outlets had.