Democratic lawmaker and Trump critic Ilhan Omar’s home raided in immigration fraud probe

• US authorities raided Democrat Ilhan Omar’s Washington-area home at dawn on Oct 12 in an ongoing immigration fraud probe.
• The case centres on immigration paperwork filled out by Omar’s late father when she was a child, according to Fox News Digital sources and a Justice Department spokesman.
• The raid came before the Nov 3 midterm elections, as Trump kept attacking Omar and other Muslim lawmakers, drawing criticism for anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

WASHINGTON – Federal officials conducted a predawn raid on Oct 12 on the Washington-area home of Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, an outspoken critic of Donald Trump who has been the target of political insults by the Republican president, as part of an ongoing investigation.

A person familiar with the investigation said it is related to alleged immigration fraud, and part of the probe concerns the Somali-born lawmaker’s immigration paperwork, which was filled out by her late father when she was a child.

“Today in the Washington, D.C. area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorised search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation,” a department spokesman said in an e-mail.

Homeland Security Investigations is part of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, told Fox Business Network that the Justice Department is leading the investigation with the Department of Homeland Security. Homan declined to get into the specifics of an ongoing criminal investigation.

The raid came a little more than three weeks before the Nov 3 midterm elections, when President Donald Trump’s Republicans will be trying to defend their thin majorities in the US Congress.

Omar, a prominent progressive who is running for re-election, represents a safe Democratic district. She was re-elected in 2024 by a margin of 50 percentage points.

Minnesota Democrats condemned the raid.

“Americans see this for what it is,” Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, wrote on social media. “President Trump is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election.”

Justice Department policy bars federal prosecutors and agents from timing any action to affect the outcome of any election or benefiting a candidate or political party. The department has historically avoided taking investigative steps against political candidates within about 60 days of an election.

During Trump’s second term in office, the Justice Department has investigated and brought charges against a range of his perceived political enemies.

It has charged former FBI Director James Comey, New York state Attorney-General Letitia James and Trump’s former national security adviser turned critic John Bolton.

It also has investigated Democratic lawmakers who urged the US military not to follow illegal orders, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve officials Jerome Powell and Lisa Cook.

The case against James and one of two brought against Comey were thrown out by a federal judge. Bolton pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced later in October. Grand juries and federal judges have stymied several other probes.

Omar, who has been a frequent target of Trump’s political insults, called his focus on her an “unhealthy and creepy obsession”. He has also cast the Somali American community as a threat to Minnesota in a burst of anti-Somali and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Last week, he called Democratic candidate for US Senate from Michigan Abdul El-Sayed, who is ⁠Muslim, a “RADICAL Extremist” and “Terrorist Sympathizer”, while offering support for the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers.

Civil rights advocates have criticised his rhetoric towards ​minorities and immigrants, including when he previously called Somalis “garbage”.

In February, he said Omar and Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who is also Muslim, should be “institutionalised” and sent back to “where they came from”.

Both lawmakers criticised Trump during his State of the Union address as he touted his administration’s hard-line immigration crackdown and its immigration enforcement actions.

Omar has repeatedly said she and her family have faced death threats, which she attributes to “hateful political rhetoric”, especially from Trump.

In September, a Minnesota man who squirted vinegar on Omar was sentenced to ​one year and two months in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a federal official.

Anthony James Kazmierczak admitted to attacking Omar because he ​disagreed with her progressive political views. REUTERS