Federal Investigators Subpoena Ilhan Omar's Sister and Other Relatives, Sources Say

Since Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington home on Monday, Oct. 12, the probe has widened to her family. The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the investigation, that investigators subpoenaed her sister, Sahra Noor, and at least one other person in her family circle.

Fox News also learned that subpoenas went to multiple relatives. A person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the subpoenas came from the Justice Department. That person said it was not clear what information they seek.

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, has not been charged with a crime.

What the probe is examining

The Times reported that investigators are looking at possible fraud and false statements in immigration paperwork. Part of the inquiry reportedly focuses on whether Omar's late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, lied or left out information on immigration forms before he became a U.S. citizen.

The Justice Department has confirmed only that agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. It has not described the scope or the target. Two sources told Fox News Digital the search involved her immigration paperwork.

A subpoena does not by itself mean the person who receives it is suspected of a crime. Noor did not respond to a request for comment, according to the Times.

The birth-year request

Separately, the New York Post reviewed emails showing Omar's congressional staff asked the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library in May 2019 to change her listed birth year from 1981 to 1982.

"On May 17, 2019, Library staff were informed by Rep. Omar's congressional staff that her birth year was incorrect and requested that we change it to 1982," the library's director wrote in a May 24, 2019, email. The director added that staff were working with Wikipedia, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and other sources to correct the year.

The library's original 1981 entry did not come from a birth certificate or other documentation. The director wrote that it had been drawn from other reference sources and added "without documentation."

Neither the emails nor the Post's reporting show that Omar falsified anything. Nothing has established that the biography change prompted Monday's search. A former political opponent has questioned the discrepancy while challenging Omar's account of how she became a citizen.

Omar says she became a citizen through her father's naturalization in 2000, before she turned 18.

Trump and the politics

President Trump went after Omar again Tuesday. Leaving the White House, he called her "a terrible person" and "a terrible congresswoman." He said he doesn't "think she loves our country at all."

Asked whether he wants her deported, Trump said, "I don't take a position." It is not clear whether deportation is on the table. Omar was naturalized in 2000, and Trump posted on Truth Social that she had committed fraud: "America wants answers, and we want them, NOW!" No charge supports that claim.

At a rally Monday night in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump described Omar as coming "from a country without laws, without police, without military." Earlier this year he posted that she "should be in jail" and "sent back to Somalia."

Vice President JD Vance said he had no advance notice of the search.

Omar's position is on the record. "This is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement," she wrote Monday on X. "For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns." Her office has since sent a fundraising email, obtained by NewsNation, calling the investigation "baseless" and "partisan."

Administration officials say the probe predates the search. Border czar Tom Homan said the investigation had been going on for a while. "There was a warrant executed this morning, so I'll leave it at that," he said, and referred questions to Attorney General Todd Blanche and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Jonathan Fahey, a former acting ICE director, told the New York Post that getting a warrant from a D.C. judge was not easy. He said that indicates investigators showed probable cause of immigration crimes. That is his read. The warrant's affidavit has not been made public.

The election clock

Omar faces voters in three weeks. ABC News noted that recent Justice Department practice has been to advise prosecutors against overt investigative steps involving members of Congress or candidates within 60 days of an election. That is a department practice, not a statute. The search came about three weeks out, and no Justice Department official has publicly addressed the timing.

Whether any charges follow is the open question now. Prosecutors have not said what the subpoenas seek, and no one has said whether the warrant's supporting affidavit will be unsealed. Both matter for judging whether a probe that began quietly can be separated from a campaign season it has now entered.