Justice Dept. Issues Grand Jury Subpoenas to Ilhan Omar's Relatives as Immigration Probe Widens

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) escalated on Tuesday, as the Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas to members of the congresswoman's family, one day after Homeland Security agents raided her Washington home.

According to reporting by The New York Times, citing people familiar with the investigation, Omar's sister Sahra Noor — a health care professional and author — received a subpoena, as did at least one other member of her family circle. Fox News independently confirmed that subpoenas have been sent to multiple members of Omar's family.

Federal investigators are combing the Omar family's immigration history for evidence of fraud and false statements in immigration paperwork. A central focus is whether Omar's late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, lied or omitted information on immigration forms before becoming a U.S. citizen — a question with direct implications for Omar herself, who says she obtained American citizenship through her father's naturalization in 2000, before she turned 18.

A one-year discrepancy in Omar's publicly recorded birthdate has also drawn scrutiny. The New York Post reported that Omar's congressional staff asked Minnesota's Legislative Reference Library in May 2019 to change her listed birth year from 1981 to 1982 — a correction the library made after staff said the original entry, taken from reference sources, was entered "without documentation."

On Monday, agents with Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant at Omar's Washington, D.C., home, carrying out boxes of documents during a multi-hour search. The Justice Department confirmed the search was part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation; no immigration-related criminal charges against Omar have been announced.

Grand jury subpoenas are issued to gather evidence about possible crimes and do not by themselves mean the recipients are suspected of wrongdoing.

Omar has repeatedly denied immigration wrongdoing and called the search an attempt by the Trump administration "to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement." President Trump told reporters he had "nothing to do with it," while adding he has "always found her to be totally crooked, personally." House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar called the search "deeply disturbing" in a joint statement.

The probe comes less than a month before the November midterm elections and is expected to intensify partisan fighting over the Justice Department's actions.

Sources

• The New York Times — "Justice Dept. Issues Subpoenas in Ilhan Omar Investigation" (via NewsBeep mirror)
• Fox News — "Rep. Ilhan Omar's immigration history faces new scrutiny as federal investigators subpoena relatives"