Officials Tell WSJ the Omar Probe Aims at Revoking Her Citizenship; Her Office Calls It Baseless

Since Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington-area home on Monday, Oct. 12, the story has moved from a search warrant to a stated end goal. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing U.S. officials and other people familiar with the probe, that investigators are building a case to revoke the Minnesota Democrat's citizenship and ultimately deport her.

That is a single-outlet account built on anonymous sourcing. The Justice Department has not publicly said what the investigation is meant to produce.

The age question

According to the Journal, the inquiry centers on whether Omar or her late father changed her age on paperwork to show she was 17 rather than 18 when he applied for citizenship. Her age would have determined whether she could derive citizenship through him or had to apply on her own.

Omar arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1995 after time in a Kenyan refugee camp. She became a citizen in 2000. She has previously denied committing immigration fraud.

Her father died in 2020, which complicates the evidence. A former top immigration official at the Justice Department told the Journal the administration would hinge its case on whether Omar herself lied about her age, as opposed to whether her father did.

The Journal also reported that HSI officials looked at a similar tip during the Biden administration and declined to proceed because they found no evidence of fraud.

What agents took, and who has been subpoenaed

Agents seized Omar's phone, notebooks, personal computers and passport, according to the Journal. Omar and her husband were home during the search.

A Justice Department spokesperson said HSI executed a "judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice" and called it part of "an ongoing federal criminal investigation." The statement did not describe the investigation's subject.

NewsNation, citing a source familiar with the case, reported that prosecutors have issued more than 15 subpoenas, including to Omar's relatives. Al Jazeera, citing the Journal's account, said the subpoenas seek testimony before a grand jury in Minnesota.

Two sources told Fox News Digital the search grew out of a criminal fraud investigation into immigration paperwork filled out by Omar's late father.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said Tuesday that "there are several investigations going on," including one involving Omar's financial disclosures. She did not announce charges, and none have been filed.

Omar's response

Omar's office rejected the probe in a statement to the Journal: "President Trump would love to eliminate one of the most effective progressive voices in Congress. There is no basis for this." A spokesperson told CNN that "the Congresswoman has done nothing wrong."

Omar herself wrote on X that the search was "an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement," adding that Trump has targeted her with "baseless lies and smear campaigns" for ten years.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar called the search "deeply disturbing." They said it "raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump's adversaries," and promised "full accountability."

Trump's two messages

On Monday afternoon, Trump told reporters at the White House the search "has nothing to do with me." He called Omar "a terrible person" and "a totally crooked person," but said the matter was "really up to the DOJ."

Hours later at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, he went after her again. He said she "comes in from a country without laws, without police, without military," and cited a shooting at a Minnesota high school homecoming event and an FBI arrest in an alleged Mall of America plot. The crowd began chanting "deport."

Those remarks were about a nation and a community, not about her paperwork. The only documented link between the president's rally comments and the investigation is timing.

Trump has also said previously, aboard Air Force One, that Omar "supposedly" came into the country by marrying her brother. He added that if true, "we should throw her the hell out." Omar has denied committing immigration fraud.

The election clock

The search came less than a month before the Nov. 3 midterms, and Omar is seeking a fifth term in Minnesota's 5th District. CNN noted that it is unusual for the Justice Department to take an investigative step this aggressive toward a candidate so close to an election. Voting is well underway in Minnesota, with more than 127,000 ballots already cast according to state data.

The timing is what Omar's allies point to. Administration officials point to the fact that a judge approved the warrant and that prosecutors are using a grand jury.

Both can be true. A court signed off on the search, and the investigation is a live criminal matter with no charges and no public evidence beyond anonymous accounts.

The central uncertainty is whether prosecutors can prove anything about a 30-year-old age entry on paperwork when the father who filed it died in 2020. Whether grand jury testimony from Omar's relatives changes that is still unknown, and no date has been set for any charging decision.