Removed From the Country — Ilhan Omar Hit With Horrid News

The federal investigation involving Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is drawing renewed attention — but the issue investigators may ultimately focus on could be very different from the explosive allegation that has followed the Minnesota congresswoman for years.

Current and former immigration officials say questions surrounding Omar’s path to U.S. citizenship could present a more consequential legal issue than longstanding accusations involving her former husband, Ahmed Elmi.

White House border czar Tom Homan recently confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations is conducting what he described as an ongoing criminal investigation involving Omar. He stopped short of revealing precisely what investigators are examining or whether authorities have uncovered evidence of wrongdoing.

“I know things are going on, but I can’t give specifics of what’s happening,” Homan said.

Homan said investigators would pursue immigration violations or marriage fraud regardless of the person involved, adding that “no one’s above the law.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has separately made allegations concerning Omar’s marriage and suggested federal officials are examining her family’s broader immigration history.

“Something’s going to happen,” Mullin said.

But despite the escalating rhetoric from administration officials, federal authorities have publicly announced no charges or findings against Omar.

The Marriage Allegation Faces Major Legal Questions

For years, critics have alleged that Omar’s 2009 marriage to British national Ahmed Elmi was fraudulent and that Elmi was actually her brother.

Omar has repeatedly and emphatically denied those accusations.

The allegation has circulated through political circles and portions of Minnesota’s Somali community for years, but it has never been established by a criminal conviction, civil judgment or publicly released government finding.

And according to immigration attorneys and former officials cited in recent reporting, even proving wrongdoing connected to that marriage would not necessarily create a straightforward route toward removing Omar from the country.

Omar was already a U.S. citizen when she married Elmi.

There is another major complication: time.

The marriage legally ended in divorce in 2017, potentially creating substantial statute-of-limitations problems for any criminal prosecution based solely upon alleged marriage fraud.

That has pushed attention toward a different question — one reaching much further back into Omar’s history.

Investigators Could Examine How Omar Became a Citizen

Omar has said she arrived in the United States as a refugee after her family fled Somalia and later became an American citizen at 17 through her naturalized father, Nur Said Mohamed.

That timeline could prove important.

Under the citizenship rules applicable at the time, derivative citizenship for a child depended on several legal requirements, including age, parental citizenship, custody and permanent-residency circumstances.

Omar says she obtained citizenship in 2000 while she was still 17.

Some critics have challenged her reported birth year, claiming she may have been older when she became a citizen. The New York Post reported that archived versions of a Minnesota legislative biography listed her birth year as 1981 before later identifying it as 1982.

Those claims, however, have not been publicly proven.

Current congressional records identify Omar’s birth date as October 4, 1982.

Omar has previously said that original documentation from Somalia was destroyed during the country’s civil war.

Questions Also Surround Her Father’s Immigration History

Former officials cited in the reporting raised another avenue investigators could potentially examine: information supplied by Omar’s father during the family’s immigration process.

Nur Said Mohamed, who died in 2020, was publicly described as an educator. Other accounts, including Somali reporting and statements attributed to a former Somali prime minister, have described him as a former colonel in the Somali National Army.

That distinction alone would not establish immigration fraud.

For it to become legally significant, investigators would need evidence showing that material information was knowingly concealed or falsely represented during the immigration process.

The stakes would be substantially different if authorities could establish that Omar’s citizenship was obtained through a material misrepresentation during the naturalization process.

Federal law provides a process for denaturalization in certain circumstances when citizenship was illegally procured or obtained through concealment or willful misrepresentation of a material fact.

But such an outcome would require a formal legal proceeding and admissible evidence — not political accusations or unresolved suspicions.

DNA Testing Has Also Been Raised

One former official told the Post that investigators could potentially seek DNA samples from Omar and Elmi as part of an effort to determine whether they are biologically related.

Neither would ordinarily be required to provide a sample voluntarily.

Even a biological relationship, standing alone, would not prove why the marriage occurred or establish that immigration fraud took place.

Omar and Elmi did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment. Omar and her representatives have repeatedly rejected allegations surrounding her marriage and citizenship, characterizing them as false and politically motivated.

For now, the most important distinction remains between allegations and established facts.

Federal officials have publicly acknowledged an investigation involving the Minnesota congresswoman, but they have not disclosed its full scope, announced charges or presented public evidence establishing immigration or naturalization fraud.

What happens next will depend on what investigators can actually prove — and whether any evidence uncovered can withstand scrutiny in court.