US immigration investigators found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing when they reviewed Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar’s immigration records in 2019, but the Trump administration has revived scrutiny of similar allegations, The Washington Post reported .
The renewed investigation became public on October 12, when federal agents searched Omar’s Washington, DC, residence. Authorities are revisiting questions about her birth date and her father’s military history in Somalia, issues that had already been examined during the 2019 review, the Washington Post reported. A political appointee in the first Trump administration asked immigration authorities in 2019 to examine Omar’s records for evidence of fraud, according to the report. Earlier reporting noted: The investigation appears to center on whether the Somali-born Omar, who has represented a Minnesota district since 2019, or her relatives gave false information upon entering the US as refugees in the mid-1990s or during the process of becoming American citizens.
Because it involved investigating a sitting member of Congress who had become a prominent critic of President Donald Trump, the request alarmed career officials.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative arm of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ultimately found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, according to three former immigration officials cited by the newspaper. The review initially focused on allegations involving Omar’s former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. HSI ultimately determined that there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, one former official said. “Trump has spread lie after lie about the Congresswoman in a desperate attempt to justify his extraordinary abuse of power,” her spokesperson said in a statement quoted by the Washington Post, describing the investigation as politically motivated. Earlier reporting noted: Agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, seized Omar’s personal cell phone during the search, the report said. Earlier reporting noted: A predawn raid on Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar’s home by federal agents stemmed from an expanding investigation into her US immigration paperwork, three people familiar with the case said this week.
Conservative commentators had claimed that the two were siblings who entered into a sham marriage to secure US immigration benefits. The Washington Post described those claims as unsubstantiated. The idea of pursuing a full investigation was eventually abandoned.
The earlier review examined Omar’s background, her family’s history as Somali refugees and allegations surrounding her marriage.
