Federal Agents Search Ilhan Omar's Home 22 Days Before Midterms

Homeland Security Investigations agents searched the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar early Monday morning, carrying documents out of the house 22 days before the midterm elections.

The Justice Department confirmed it in a short statement: "Today in the Washington, D.C., area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice." The statement said the action "is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation." It did not name Omar, and it gave no hint of what crime investigators think was committed.

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, has not been charged with a crime. Hours after the search began, she posted on X: "I'm ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement." She wrote that for ten years President Donald Trump has targeted her "with baseless lies and smear campaigns," called the search "just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation," and added: "I will not be silenced."

Boxes out the front door before sunrise

Sharon Jackson, 79, lives across the street from the congresswoman and said federal agents woke her up around 4:30 a.m. Monday. "I got awakened by boom, boom, boom," Jackson said. "They were out here with a great big truck."

Agents were photographed removing documents from the house, which sits in the Northeast quadrant of Washington. HSI investigators were visible outside the home through the morning, walking in and out and getting into vehicles parked along the block.

Congress is not in session, and it is not clear whether Omar was inside when the agents arrived. Homeland Security Investigations is a division of the Department of Homeland Security. The White House and DHS both sent questions about the search to the Justice Department.

A years-old case with a Minneapolis prosecutor attached

One person familiar with the probe described it as a yearslong criminal investigation run by Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. attorney in Minneapolis and the Justice Department. That person said it involves whistleblowers, documents and witness testimony, and that it deals partly with immigration and fraud but goes beyond those two things.

A separate person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is not public, said the case against the 44-year-old congresswoman is complex and has been going on for years.

Fox News first reported the search. It cited a source familiar with the probe as saying the focus is Omar's immigration paperwork, which was filled out by her father when she emigrated from Somalia with him as a child in the 1990s. A person familiar with the investigation told Reuters the case involves alleged immigration fraud and that part of it concerns paperwork completed by her late father when she was a child.

Three weeks out from Election Day

The general election is just over three weeks away on Nov. 3. Omar is seeking reelection against Republican John Nagel in a race the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates "solid Democrat."

Justice Department policy discourages opening an investigation, taking investigative steps, bringing charges or making public statements for the purpose of affecting an election or giving a candidate an advantage or a disadvantage. There is no written rule that blocks the department from acting inside 60 days of an election, but that has long been the unwritten practice, and prosecutors are directed to ask for guidance when timing could raise questions.

The person familiar with the raid told CNBC that the department does not consider Monday's action a violation of that policy, because the search was not meant to be public.

The department's own watchdog flagged election timing in September

On Sept. 30, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General named as a priority its recommendation that the department consider giving agents and prosecutors guidance on "the taking of overt investigative steps, indictments, public announcements, or other actions that could impact an election." The recommendation first appeared in a 2018 report on what the Justice Department and FBI did ahead of the 2016 election.

That guidance has not always been followed. In 2016, then-FBI Director James Comey publicly disclosed developments in the email investigation of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton 11 days before the presidential election. Trump fired Comey after taking office, and the administration pointed to those same long-standing department principles as the reason, though Trump said he would have fired him "regardless" of the memo laying out the missteps.

Election interference was also the argument the department used in the other direction early in Trump's second term. In February 2025, then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove moved to dismiss the federal bribery and campaign finance case against former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, writing in part that the case carried "risks of interference" with the city's upcoming elections. The acting U.S. attorney overseeing the case resigned over it. Searching a sitting member of Congress this close to a vote is the sort of step federal law enforcement has typically avoided.

Homan and Mullin both talked about the probe in September

White House border czar Tom Homan told Fox News on Sept. 13 that the Department of Homeland Security had been investigating Omar, and declined to give details. "If someone committed an immigration violation, if someone committed marriage fraud or anything like that, regardless if they're a congressman or not, no one's above the law," Homan said. "So, I'll leave it at that. We'll let HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, continue the investigation."

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin went further in September, telling commentator Benny Johnson at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas that his department was looking into Omar and her family's immigration to the United States. "There may be more to this, the whole family migration and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with," Mullin said. He said the investigation could end in deportations.

Omar shrugged off the allegations for months

Asked about the allegations in mid-September, Omar said she had not been told she was under investigation and pushed the question back at the reporter. "Why do you follow up with them and ask them what is the information that they have, and how long does the investigation take?" she said. "I don't really worry about it," she added. "You have a good day."

She took the same line in April during an appearance on a nationally syndicated radio show. "Listen, suggest all you want," Omar said. "Please, investigate all you want. Right, like? To me, I'm not, like, 'I'm above the law.'"

Vice President JD Vance said in a podcast interview in March, without offering evidence, that "we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against" the United States. Omar's office called the claim fabricated and defamatory at the time, and she has repeatedly denied the accusation. In January, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina moved in the House Oversight Committee to subpoena Omar's immigration records. The committee tabled the motion.

Democrats called it an abuse of power within hours

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California said in a joint statement that the search was "deeply disturbing and raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump's adversaries." They added: "Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family."

Omar's communications director, Jacklyn Rogers, called the search "an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies." Rogers said the congresswoman has done nothing wrong, and that no president should be able to use the federal government to intimidate political enemies.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said "President Trump is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election." Rep. Ro Khanna of California said in a video on X that "any decent American needs to stand up and speak out."

Ten years of attacks, and one syringe

Trump has gone after Omar for years, criticizing her politics and saying she should "go back" to where she came from. In December 2025, during a speech in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, he said she does "nothing but b-tch," said her birth country is considered "the worst" in the world and told the crowd, "We ought to get her the hell out." He paused as the crowd chanted "send her back." Omar replied that his obsession with her is "beyond weird" and that "he continues to be a national embarrassment."

On Jan. 27, a man approached Omar at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis and sprayed her with a liquid before security restrained him. Lab analysis found the liquid was a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar containing acetic acid. On Sept. 17, Anthony James Kazmierczak, 56, was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for the assault.

After that incident, Omar said that every time a president uses hateful rhetoric about her and the community she represents, her death threats skyrocket. She said she would not be paying for security today if Trump were not in office.

Omar heckled Trump during his State of the Union address on Feb. 24, which followed aggressive federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000, at 17, was elected to Congress in November 2018, and represents Minnesota's 5th District, which includes all of Minneapolis. She and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan were the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. She is deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

No charges have been filed against her, and the Justice Department has not said what crime it is investigating.