Democrats erupted after federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home in a fraud probe, and Republicans answered that the same party cheered the Mar-a-Lago raid.
Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a court-authorized search warrant at Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington-area home as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation, the Justice Department confirmed. Fox News reported President Donald Trump addressed the action and said he had “Nothing to do with me.”
Democratic lawmakers called the search a corrupt weaponization of federal power against a political adversary. Republicans answered that no one is above the law, and that Democrats who celebrated the 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence had already set the precedent.
Two sources close to the investigation said the search stems from a criminal fraud probe into immigration paperwork filled out by Omar’s late father when she was a child. No charges from the raid were announced, and Omar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The action came less than a month before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, with absentee voting already under way in Minnesota.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries framed the search as part of a broader pattern against Trump’s opponents.
"The Trump administration’s raid on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s home is deeply disturbing and raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries,"
Jeffries wrote on X.
Fellow Squad member Rep. Pramila Jayapal said Trump “has been obsessed with Rep. Omar” and called the move “what authoritarians do.” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Omar entered legally as a child refugee, became a citizen, and won election, then accused Trump of weaponizing the government “to silence opposition.”
Rep. Ted Lieu noted Omar has been a U.S. citizen for 26 years and arrived as a child refugee. Rep. Rashida Tlaib called it a gross abuse of power and said Omar had “done nothing to justify a pre-dawn raid ahead of the election.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez labeled it an “unprecedented abuse of power” after years of what she called slanderous attacks.
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota cast the timing as election interference, saying Trump and his DOJ have a “bizarre obsession with tearing down Minnesota” even as voting had already started in the state.
As of Tuesday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had not issued statements.
Rep. Nancy Mace drew the sharpest contrast, tying Democratic outrage to the 2022 search of Trump’s Florida residence.
"All those who celebrated the raid of Mar-a-Lago don't get to cry over the raid at Ilhan Omar's home. Trump's political enemy raided his home. Democrats set the precedent,"
Mace posted.
She also said she had tried to subpoena Omar’s immigration records and those of the man critics call her “brother-husband,” only to see both parties block the effort in Oversight. If fraud is proven, Mace said, Omar “should be denaturalized and deported home to Somalia.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota kept the focus on equal application of the law and federal agents’ search of the congresswoman’s residence.
"Nobody is above the law. HSI just executed a search warrant at Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C. home. We look forward to learning more details about this raid and investigation. ACCOUNTABILITY IS COMING!"
Emmer wrote.
Rep. Randy Fine said that if Omar lied on immigration paperwork, she should be denaturalized and deported “the same as anyone else. No more special treatment.” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said true allegations must be handled legally and pointed to her push, with members including Kat Cammack and Fine, for disclosure when members of Congress hold dual citizenship.
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed the mechanics in plain terms, as Breitbart noted in its account of the pre-dawn operation.
"Today in the Washington, DC, area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice,"
the spokesperson said, adding that the enforcement action is “part of an ongoing federal investigation.”
Former assistant U.S. attorney Jonathan Fahey told the New York Post what a signed warrant means in practice.
"The big picture here is a federal judge in Washington, DC, signed off on a search warrant. That means there’s probable cause that a federal crime was committed, and there would be evidence of that crime in the area to be searched, which in this case was Representative Omar’s home,"
Fahey said. Reporting described agents removing boxes from the residence.
A source described the probe as centered on longstanding, unverified claims that Omar was older than 17 in 2000 when she received citizenship through her father, a detail that, if proven, could affect eligibility. The same coverage noted that later use of documents can bear on statutes of limitations.
Just The News reported the investigation examines whether Omar’s late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, lied or omitted information on his U.S. citizenship application, which could carry consequences for her own naturalization status. The outlet also cited USCIS Operation Twin Shield, which previously flagged more than 1,000 suspected fraud or ineligibility cases in Minnesota’s Twin Cities Somali community.
Omar has repeatedly denied allegations of immigration fraud and claims she is in the country unlawfully. She has also faced long-standing political pressure over her 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi; critics claimed he was her brother, she denied it, and the couple divorced in 2017. No charges related to that marriage have been brought against her. Republicans previously scrutinized her net worth and business ties involving her husband, Tim Mynett.
Omar’s communications director, Jacklyn Rogers, called the search “an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies.” Omar herself wrote on X, “I will not be silenced.”
The congresswoman has long clashed with immigration enforcement priorities, including through an Ilhan Omar bill aimed at stripping ICE funding and shifting resources to communities that resist enforcement.
Earlier coverage captured her saying federal officials had not contacted her even as Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed an ICE criminal investigation, a sequence detailed when Homan confirmed the probe.
Separate HSI activity at the same residence over immigration paperwork was also tracked in prior reporting on the HSI agents’ search.
A federal judge signed a warrant. HSI carried it out. DOJ confirmed it. Democrats answered with charges of authoritarianism and election interference. Republicans answered with the record of Mar-a-Lago and a simple standard: paperwork fraud, if proven, brings the same consequences for a member of Congress as for anyone else.
Voters can watch whether the party that once cheered a raid on a rival’s home still believes court-authorized searches apply only in one direction.
