Federal law enforcement agents searched the Washington, D.C., residence of Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar on the 12th, shedding light on the focus of an ongoing investigation. Citing three individuals familiar with the matter, The Washington Post reported on the 13th that federal investigators are re-examining Omar’s immigration documents from decades ago. The inquiry centers on whether she or her late father provided a false date of birth—potentially to ensure she met the age requirements for obtaining U.S. citizenship through her father—and whether her father concealed his past military service in Somalia.
These allegations remain unverified, and Omar has consistently denied any involvement in immigration fraud.
Born in Somalia, Omar fled the country’s civil war with her family as a child. After spending approximately four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, she immigrated to the United States in 1995 as a 12-year-old refugee. Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000, and Omar subsequently acquired U.S. citizenship through him.
According to The Washington Post, federal investigators are specifically looking into whether Omar or her father intentionally provided an inaccurate date of birth on immigration paperwork to ensure she met the requirement of being under 18 years old at the time of her father’s naturalization.
This question first surfaced within conservative circles on social media in 2019. At the time, some alleged that Omar may have already been 18 years old when her father obtained U.S. citizenship, which would have rendered her ineligible to acquire citizenship through him.
Notably, The Washington Post found that in 2019, at the request of Omar’s congressional office, the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library updated her official profile, changing her year of birth from 1981 to 1982.
The library confirmed to The Washington Post that Omar’s staff indicated at the time that they were simultaneously updating her birth year across other public sources, including Wikipedia and the official website of the U.S. House of Representatives. However, Omar’s camp has repeatedly stated that the amendments were merely corrections of errors in existing records, not an attempt to conceal her actual year of birth. Library officials also noted that a lawmaker’s personal information is sometimes provided by the lawmaker themselves, their staff, or family members, and is not always backed by independent documentation.
Immigration experts say it is not uncommon for refugees from war-torn countries to lack complete birth records. According to a 2020 report produced by the Somali government in collaboration with the United Nations, only about 6% of births in the country were registered with the government.
In addition to the date of birth, federal investigators are examining whether Omar’s father—who passed away in 2020—deliberately concealed or misrepresented his past military service when applying for legal U.S. residency.
On the morning of the 12th, federal law enforcement officers executed a court-authorized search warrant at Omar’s residence in Northeast Washington, D.C., and removed multiple boxes of documents. Sources familiar with the matter indicated that the potential offenses listed in the warrant included conspiracy, immigration fraud, and making false statements. Some of Omar’s family members have also recently received grand jury subpoenas related to the investigation.
If the Department of Justice obtains sufficient evidence to conclude that Omar obtained her citizenship through fraud, it could potentially pursue criminal charges and seek to revoke her citizenship.
However, while there is a 10-year statute of limitations for criminal cases involving the revocation of naturalized citizenship, civil proceedings for revocation are not subject to the same time limit; the actual applicability of these measures would depend on the facts of the case and legal determinations.