Federal Agents Raid Rep. Ilhan Omar's Home in Criminal Probe

Updated 04:42 UTC, Oct 23, 2026: Trump calls on Omar to resign over name in court filing

President Donald Trump told a rally crowd in Iowa on Thursday that Rep. Ilhan Omar should resign from Congress, after a Justice Department court filing listed the Minnesota Democrat as "Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar," Newsmax and the New York Post reported.

The filing was submitted on Wednesday by the office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in federal court in Washington, as prosecutors asked to keep the search warrant for Omar's residence sealed while agents finished carrying it out. The New York Times and other news organizations had asked the court to release it.

"She used a fake name to be sworn in," Trump said at the rally. "I assume she must immediately have to resign from Congress." He declared that Republicans had just picked up a seat in the House, and he mocked the answer Omar gave on MS NOW on Wednesday when she was asked whether she is related to her former husband: "Not to my knowledge."

The filing does not establish that Omar used a false identity to take office, and she has not been charged with any crime. Fox News Digital reported, citing two sources, that Omar is not the congresswoman's birth name, and a source familiar with the investigation told the Post that Elmi was her original surname. Elmi is also the surname of her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, whom she married in 2009 and divorced in 2017. Critics have alleged for years, without substantiated evidence, that he is her brother. Omar has repeatedly denied that claim and called it insane in her MS NOW interview.

Omar's office rejected the reports. "This is completely false. Ilhan Omar is her real name," a spokesperson told Fox News Digital, calling the allegation a "desperate smear" and saying it was "disgraceful that the media continues to give this lie oxygen." Attorney General Todd Blanche, asked about the filing by the Post, said he did not believe prosecutors "would make up names."

Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar's Washington area home on Oct. 12 and seized her phone, computer and passport, the Post reported. The Justice Department has confirmed the search was part of an ongoing criminal investigation and has not announced any charges.

Updated 05:19 UTC, Oct 22, 2026: Omar gives first interview since the raid

Rep. Ilhan Omar gave her first interview since the Oct. 12 search of her Washington area home on Wednesday, Oct. 21, telling MS NOW host Chris Hayes that the early morning raid was meant to frighten her and, in her words, to intimidate and scare people away from voting in the midterm elections, USA Today and Fox News reported.

Omar said agents from Homeland Security Investigations began pounding on her front and back doors at 6 a.m., when she had been asleep for barely two and a half hours, and she first thought something was on fire. Agents then moved through the home room by room for several hours and left with 17 items, she said, among them her youngest daughter's first phone, a camera her husband's uncle had kept from his years in the Navy, and a book her husband had been using to learn Somali. She called the seizure of notebooks and old phones bizarre.

Omar said she was not allowed to call her attorney until about an hour into the search, that agents did not notify the House general counsel as the warrant required, a point her lawyers have raised with the Justice Department, and that she refused a request to sign a waiver of the speech or debate clause, the constitutional protection for the legislative work of members of Congress. She said the agents themselves were courteous and even folded some of her clothes as they put the house back in order, but that they did not follow all of the conditions a judge had set for the search.

President Donald Trump has said he had nothing to do with the investigation and that it was a Justice Department decision alone. Omar rejected that. She said Trump had everything to do with it and pointed to officials involved in the case who have publicly attacked her. Asked on MS NOW about the long running claim that her former husband is her brother, she called the allegation insane and answered, in the New York Post account of the interview, "Not to my knowledge."

Omar said her family will not return to the house that was searched, because its address is now public and she already receives a steady stream of death threats. She said she is confident she did nothing wrong. Fox News reported that she also said the raid may be having the opposite of its intended effect, with long lines at early voting sites in Minnesota and her staff struggling to keep up with requests for rides to vote.

Earlier reporting

Updated 09:45 UTC: The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday night that the federal investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar is aimed at building a case to strip her of her US citizenship and deport her, citing US officials and people familiar with the probe. Investigators are examining whether Omar or her late father listed her age as 17 instead of 18 in citizenship paperwork, a detail that decides whether her citizenship came automatically through her father or needed an application of its own. Omar arrived in the United States in 1995 from a refugee camp in Kenya and became a citizen in 2000. Her office told the Journal there is no basis for the investigation. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro has publicly confirmed that her office has opened several investigations into Omar, including one into her financial disclosure forms, the Journal reported. The Justice Department has confirmed only that the search took place and has not described the goal of the investigation.

Updated 02:40 UTC: Federal agents seized Rep. Ilhan Omar's phone when they searched her Washington home on Monday, and prosecutors have issued about a dozen grand jury subpoenas in the investigation, including to members of her family, NBC News reported on October 14, citing two people familiar with the probe. Omar herself was not subpoenaed. The subpoenas are tied to a federal grand jury in Minnesota.

The possible charges cited by federal officials include conspiracy and making false statements in immigration paperwork, one of the people told NBC News. Before approving the search warrant, a federal magistrate judge in Washington limited how Justice Department lawyers could access Omar's congressional records, a step meant to protect the Speech or Debate Clause rights of a sitting member of Congress, CNN reported. The investigation is run by Homeland Security Investigations, the US attorney in Minneapolis and the Justice Department. The Justice Department declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Omar did not respond to NBC News. No charges have been announced.

The search came about three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, inside the window when the Justice Department has usually avoided overt steps in cases that could affect an election.

Updated 23:25 UTC: President Donald Trump denied any role in the search on Monday afternoon. Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump said he had no involvement and no prior knowledge of the operation. He repeated his long-running attacks on Omar in the same remarks and said the matter was up to the Justice Department.

Omar answered in public on Monday. She called the search political intimidation and the latest step in a years-long campaign against her, and she said she would not be silenced. House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, called the raid deeply disturbing in a joint statement and noted that it came less than 30 days before the midterm elections. The search also sits uneasily with longstanding Justice Department policy that advises prosecutors to avoid actions close to an election that could affect the result.

WASHINGTON: Federal agents searched the Washington-area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar early Monday morning, the Justice Department confirmed, in a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration's long-running feud with the Minnesota Democrat.

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the criminal-investigations arm of the Department of Homeland Security, executed what the department called a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Justice Department. The street outside the home was blocked off as agents remained at the scene through the morning.

"This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation," a Justice Department spokesperson said. Officials gave no other details about what the investigation covers.

What the raid is reportedly about

Fox News, citing two sources familiar with the investigation, reported that agents are examining the immigration paperwork that Omar's late father filled out when she was a child. Omar arrived in the United States in 1995 as a refugee from Somalia and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

The Associated Press, citing two people familiar with the matter, confirmed that HSI agents searched the home as part of a criminal investigation but said the precise focus was not immediately clear.

Omar, 44, has represented Minnesota's 5th District, which includes Minneapolis, since she was first elected to the House in 2018. She is a member of the progressive group of lawmakers known as "the Squad" and has been one of President Donald Trump's most frequent targets.

Why it matters

The search marks the most aggressive step yet in the administration's campaign against Omar. For years, Trump and his allies have accused her, without presenting evidence, of committing immigration fraud, including the long-running claim that she married her brother to help him obtain immigration benefits. Omar has broadly denied the allegations as "disgusting lies."

Top administration officials have been open about their intentions. In March, Vice President JD Vance said the administration "definitely" believes Omar committed fraud and was evaluating how to "go after" her. Last month, border czar Tom Homan confirmed on Fox News that she was the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, saying "things are going on" but declining to give specifics. Homan confirmed Monday morning that the warrant had been executed.

The timing is delicate. Omar is running for reelection with the midterm elections only weeks away. Justice Department policy bars prosecutors and agents from timing investigative steps to influence an election, and investigations of sitting members of Congress require additional approvals inside the department. The Constitution also gives lawmakers special protections around papers tied to their legislative work.

What happens next

Neither the precise scope of the investigation nor any potential charges are known. Omar has not been charged with any crime. Her office had not issued a public statement as of Monday morning, and spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The search is likely to intensify the already bitter standoff between the administration and congressional Democrats, who have accused Trump of weaponizing federal law enforcement against political opponents. Expect court filings, congressional inquiries and a flood of litigation over the coming days as both sides fight over what agents took and whether the search was lawful.

Key numbers

• 1995: the year Omar arrived in the U.S. as a Somali refugee
• 2000: the year she became a U.S. citizen
• 2018: the year she was first elected to the House
• 5th: her Minnesota congressional district, centered on Minneapolis