Early in the morning on Monday, Oct. 12, the Department of Homeland Security’s Investigation unit barged into the home of Minnesota’s US Rep. Ilhan Omar. No warning, no clear reason as to why, just a search warrant in hand to search her home, seize her cell phone, and issue multiple grand jury subpoenas for her friends and family members.
Historically, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not issue investigative action into a political candidate within 60 days of an election. The raid was completed with just 22 days until the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The DOJ states that the “judicially authorized search warrant” is “part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.” The Associated Press reports Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had said “something’s going to happen” last month, seemingly foreshadowing an investigation into Omar’s immigration paperwork.
Omar tweeted shortly after the search of her home, saying, “this is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
“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.”
-US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D), Minnesota CD-5
President Donald Trump has harassed Omar for years. It started when Omar was elected to represent Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in 2019. Omar was dubbed part of “The Squad,” a group of four progressive Democratic congress members who are all women of color. It includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. The Squad was immediately targeted by Trump and still is today.
Additionally, Trump has targeted the Somali community–specifically in Minnesota–for months, publicly. He’s called Somalia “filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime,” and earlier this week, he wrote a post on Truth Social asking Minnesotans to “fight back” against Somali immigrants here.
Minnesota has the highest Somali population in the country. After being one of the main targets during Operation Metro Surge and amid the heightened rhetoric from Trump and other Republican leaders, many Somali Minnesotans have expressed fear for their safety as they go about their everyday lives—including going to vote.
In response to the DHS raid, it’s not just US House Democrats speaking out, calling it an “abuse of power,” it’s her constituents as well. Protests in Minneapolis were quickly organized later that day, condemning the action and urging voters to show up to the polls.
Voters are supporting Omar
While the DOJ action against Omar is alarming, experts believe the investigation into Omar isn’t going to go anywhere. David Schultz, a political analyst and professor at Hamline University, said the political attack against Omar will likely drive more voters who support her to the polls.
Schultz told Courier Minnesota that he thinks Omar was already going to win her district with anywhere from 65-68% of the vote, and now, “I suspect she will win that 70+%, and I say that because I think this is going to energize her base.”
Omar’s district is “Solidly Democrat,” as the Cook Political Report puts it, and it has been for a long time. The district has been voting Democrats into Congress since 1963. The Democrat who represented the district before Omar was also an outspoken Minnesota politician: Keith Ellison, who is currently the state’s attorney general.
Hennepin County, which is in the Twin Cities and a large part of Omar’s district, holds 22% of Minnesota’s entire population. And it’s the bluest and most populous part of the state.
Schultz says the political attack has also likely boosted her campaign coffers. “Since Monday, she probably has raised nationally something like several million dollars,” Schultz said. Omar’s campaign did put out a fundraising call shortly after the raid, asking voters in an email to “chip in whatever you can to make sure Ilhan can beat Trump and keep fighting for our progressive values in Congress.”
He also believes that the political stunt is going to backfire on Trump, “unless his goal is just to embarrass her and distract people from what he’s doing, and then it’s successful.”
The investigation won’t go anywhere
Trump has a history of retaliating against political enemies. With Omar, he’s particularly pushed the false narrative that she “married her brother, which is totally illegal.” No evidence has been found supporting the claim.
In this case, The New York Times reports that Trump suggested Omar engaged in immigration fraud in a Truth Social post. “America wants answers, and we want them, NOW!” he said.
Schultz says the investigation into Omar’s immigration paperwork “has no merit,” and the whole thing is “an effort to intimidate immigrants, intimidate Somalis, try to scare people.”
Omar’s immigration paperwork was filed by her father when she was a teenager. She became a US citizen in 2000 after her family fled Somalia to the US five years before. Her family did this due to the civil war happening in the country, and after living in a Kenyan refugee camp.
The alleged immigration fraud stems from the question of whether Omar should have received automatic citizenship through her father’s naturalization. Her paperwork originally reported she was 17 years old at the time. But critics have pointed out that if Omar was born in 1981, she would have been 18 years old, invalidating her citizenship.
Omar is currently 43 years old. Her birth year is listed as 1982, and her staff helped make that change from 1981 to 1982 in the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library because it was incorrect. Omar’s staff is still trying to make that official change on Wikipedia and the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Schultz said ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether at this point, because “the statute of limitations surrounding immigration fraud is 10 years.” If Omar was born in 1982, that’s 26 years ago. If the issue is brought to court, Schultz says Omar should cite this limitation.
Currently, Schultz points out that federal officials did not come to her home with an indictment, only a search warrant. “It’s just harassment,” Schultz said, “that’s all it is, pure and simple.”
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