Federal Agents Raid Ilhan Omar's D.C. Home in Immigration-Fraud Probe, DOJ Confirms

 Federal agents searched the Washington-area home of sitting U.S. congresswoman Ilhan Omar before dawn on Monday, in a dramatic escalation of an immigration-fraud investigation the Trump administration has been signalling for weeks. The Justice Department confirmed the search, saying agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed a judicially authorized warrant. Omar, 44, a Minnesota Democrat first elected in 2018, has not been charged with any crime.

What happened Monday morning

"Today in the Washington, D.C., area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice," a Justice Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation."

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. Multiple agents wearing HSI jackets were photographed outside Omar's Washington, D.C., residence in the early hours, and video obtained by Fox News Digital showed them moving in and out of the property. Neighbors on the quiet residential street said the family had lived there for at least three years and described hearing loud banging on the door at around 4 or 5 a.m., followed by a man shouting, "Open the door, open the door." One neighbor said a man was later seen leaving the property carrying a white box marked with a pink X. It was not clear whether Omar was home at the time.

What the investigation is about

A person familiar with the investigation told Reuters it concerns alleged immigration fraud, and two sources told Fox News that part of the probe relates to immigration paperwork filled out by Omar's late father 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.

Trump administration officials have been openly previewing action against Omar for months. White House border chief Tom Homan said in mid-September that the congresswoman was the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, and told Fox Business Network that the Justice Department is leading the inquiry alongside the Department of Homeland Security. Vice President JD Vance said in March that the administration believed Omar had committed fraud and was evaluating options to "go after" her, and confirmed in May that she was under DOJ investigation. Omar has previously denied the allegations, dismissing them as politically motivated and saying homeland security officials had never contacted her about any investigation. Her office had not responded to requests for comment as of Monday morning.

The political backdrop and reactions

The raid landed a little more than three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, with Republicans defending narrow congressional majorities and Omar herself running for reelection in a safe Democratic district — she won in 2024 by 50 percentage points. Minnesota Democrats condemned the search immediately. "Americans see this for what it is," Minnesota Governor Tim Walz wrote on social media. "President Trump is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election."

Republicans cheered it. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina posted that she had previously tried to subpoena Omar's immigration records but the motion was blocked in the House oversight committee, adding that "if the fraud is proven, she should be denaturalised and deported home to Somalia." Trump and his allies have long accused Omar, without evidence, of obtaining citizenship fraudulently, including the years-old claim that she married her brother for immigration purposes — an allegation she has repeatedly denied.

What happens next

A search warrant does not mean charges are coming: investigators must show a judge probable cause, but the DOJ has revealed nothing about what it is seeking or what it found. Watch for three things — whether the Justice Department unseals or comments further on the warrant, whether Omar's office issues a response, and whether any charges materialize in the weeks around the midterms. This story is developing.

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