Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) takes questions at the Capitol, January 13, 2026.J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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Federal officers raided Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home early Monday morning, reportedly related to an investigation into the lawmaker’s immigration paperwork, filed by a relative when Omar was a child.
The search was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security that manages criminal investigations, and, according to a Justice Department spokesperson, “executed a judicially authorized search warrant” the agency secured. An anonymous source reportedly “familiar with the situation” alleged to NBC News that the raid was part of a years-long investigation involving whistleblowers. CNN also reported that a federal judge approved the search warrant but did not name the judge.
White House border czar Tom Homan, the acting head of ICE, stated on Fox News last month that Homeland Security was investigating Rep. Omar for alleged unspecified “criminal” conduct, but claimed he couldn’t “give the specifics of what’s happening.”
“If someone committed an immigration violation, if someone committed marriage fraud or anything like that, regardless if they’re a congressman or not, no one’s above the law,” Homan said at the time. “So, I’ll leave it at that. We’ll let HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, continue the investigation.”
In a Monday morning Fox interview, Homan confirmed that the search had taken place.
Omar immigrated to the US from Somalia in 1995, when she was 12 years old, amid the ongoing civil war in the country. She became a naturalized US citizen in 2000. Donald Trump and his administration have regularly racially targeted Omar—a progressive Democrat and frequent critic of the administration’s policies—fueling further violent threats against her and other lawmakers of color, and people from Somalia living in Minnesota.
Trump and other White House officials have repeatedly cited the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal that involved members of the state’s Somali American community to justify the mass violence by immigration officers in the area as part of ICE’s Operation Metro Surge in late 2025.
The timing of the raid on Rep. Omar’s Washington-area home—22 days before the November midterms, in which she is a heavy favorite for re-election—adds additional scrutiny, as Justice Department policy prohibits federal prosecutors and agents from timing investigations or charges to affect election outcomes. While not a binding rule, the Justice Department has historically complied by pausing all related actions in the 60 days before an election. (Trump and the wider MAGA movement have repeatedly targeted former FBI head James Comey, and that agency as a whole, in part over the timing and supposed political motivations of the FBI’s own investigations under Comey into both Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.)
“Americans see this for what it is,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who the Trump administration has also targeted, wrote on social media. “President Trump is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election.”
“I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” Rep. Omar posted on social media on Monday afternoon. “This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.”
I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. 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.
— Ilhan Omar (@ilhanmn.bsky.social) 2026-10-12T16:01:52.513Z
