DHS Secretary Mullin Alleges Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother, Says Deportation Case Possible

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas this week that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) married her brother to help him enter the United States, and that "something's going to happen" as part of an ongoing federal investigation.

"We know that she married her brother to try to bring him into the United States," Mullin said, according to video of the exchange circulated by Johnson. "We know he lives now in London." Mullin said investigators are also looking at "the whole family migration, and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with."

Mullin said any case would not be political. "If we can prove it that you shouldn't have been here in the first place, we'll deport you," he said, adding that he would enforce immigration law "regardless of who you are."

What's actually documented

Mullin is referring to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen Omar legally married in 2009 and divorced in 2017, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul. Omar has said she separated from Elmi religiously in 2011 before finalizing the legal divorce years later. She was also religiously married to Ahmed Hirsi, whom she later married legally in 2018 and divorced in 2019 before marrying political consultant Tim Mynett in 2020.

The claim that Elmi is Omar's biological brother first surfaced on the online forum SomaliSpot in 2016 and was later amplified by the conservative blog Power Line during Omar's first campaign for the Minnesota House, according to MPR News. Omar called the claim "absurd" at the time and went on to win that primary. In 2020, the Daily Mail reported that a former friend of Omar's, Abdihakim Osman, claimed she had discussed helping her brother obtain immigration papers.

There is one documented finding from an official body, but it doesn't establish immigration fraud. In June 2019, the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board ordered Omar to repay $3,500 after finding she used campaign funds for personal tax preparation. That inquiry showed Omar filed joint tax returns with Hirsi in 2014 and 2015 while still legally married to Elmi, according to the Associated Press. The state board's finding was about misuse of campaign funds, not immigration fraud, and no state or federal court has ever ruled that Elmi is Omar's brother or that the marriage was fraudulent.

The legal hurdle Mullin didn't mention

Omar became a naturalized citizen in 2000. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1451, the Department of Justice would first have to win a civil denaturalization case in federal court before Homeland Security could pursue deportation, according to Hoodline. Mullin's comments treated deportation as a live option DHS could simply act on without addressing that legal sequence.

Mullin also did not present documents, an indictment, or any charges. Both Times Now and WLT Report noted he offered no documentary evidence for the marriage claim. DHS itself declined to confirm his account. A department spokesperson told JNS that "as a matter of policy, DHS does not comment on specific investigative techniques, ongoing investigations or potential future actions," while adding "no one, including members of Congress, are above the law."

Omar's position

Omar has repeatedly and consistently denied that Elmi is her brother, calling the allegation false since it first surfaced in 2016. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Mail, according to Times Now. No new statement from Omar addressing Mullin's specific September remarks appears in the available reporting.

Where coverage diverged from the facts

WLT Report's headline stated Mullin "CONFIRMS" Omar married her brother and asserted DHS "confirmed" the allegation as fact. That overstates what happened: Mullin made an unproven allegation in a podcast interview, not a legal finding, and DHS explicitly declined to confirm the specifics of any investigation. Western Journal ran a reader poll asking "Should Ilhan Omar face charges?" alongside its story, a framing choice that presumes guilt before any charges exist.

A reasonable skeptic of Mullin's timing would note Omar has long been a target of President Trump and other Republicans, and that a decade-old, previously unproven forum rumor resurfacing days after a GOP convention appearance warrants scrutiny of motive. Mullin rejected that characterization directly, telling Johnson, "When we move forward, it's not political."

No charges have been filed against Omar. No court has ruled on the marriage's legality or Elmi's relationship to her. The investigation Mullin described remains, by his own account, ongoing, and DHS has not said when or whether it will produce a public finding.