ICE Investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar Over Immigration Allegations

<p>Homeland Security Investigations is conducting an investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) regarding allegations of immigration fraud, as confirmed by White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday.</p><p>Homan's comments follow a statement from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who indicated last week that Omar "married her brother to try to bring him into the United States." Homan did not explicitly state that Omar committed immigration fraud but acknowledged that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is examining the allegations and did not dismiss the possibility of revoking her American citizenship.</p><p>"I’m not going to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation," Homan told Fox News host Jacqui Heinrich. "I know things are going on. But I can’t give specifics of what’s happening. But we’ll see."</p><p>He added, "If someone committed [an] immigration violation and someone committed marriage fraud or anything like that, regardless if they’re a congresswoman or not, no one’s above the law, so I’ll leave it at that. We’ll let HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, continue the investigation."</p><p>When pressed by Heinrich on whether his comments confirmed that an investigation is ongoing, Homan replied, "I’m confirming that ICE is — yeah. Look, I said months ago, that is something that’s been reported, and it needs to be looked at."</p><p>The Trump administration has initiated a broader effort to denaturalize foreign-born individuals accused of fraud in the immigration process. In May, Vice President JD Vance stated that the Justice Department was actively investigating Omar regarding the fraud claims.</p><p>Homan did not confirm whether the federal government is actively pursuing Omar's denaturalization. He explained, "Look, you know, I’ve been around 40 years, and we’ve done de-nats cases. We have denaturalized citizens based on fraud, based on lying on their applications or lying through the process, misrepresenting themselves, or maybe misrepresenting organizations they belong to or beliefs they have. But denaturalization is a process."</p><p>"It’s a very serious process. So if someone lies through that process to becoming a citizen, and we can prove they in fact lied or misrepresented themselves, we can absolutely denaturalize them. We’ve done it before many times over the last 40 years I’ve been around. So it’s a process," he added.</p><p>Homan responded to criticism from Democrats who claim that such an investigation is politically motivated, stating, "There’s nothing political about it. ICE is enforcing law that Congress wrote. I mean, these are all laws that are in statute."</p><p>Omar, who was born in Somalia, arrived in the United States in 1995 as a refugee and obtained her citizenship in 2000 at the age of 17. In 2009, she married British citizen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, who some allege is her biological brother. The couple reportedly separated in 2011 and divorced in 2017.</p><p>This was Omar’s second marriage. In 2002, she married Ahmed Hirsi in a religious ceremony, but that union was never legally recognized. Omar has stated that she separated from Hirsi in 2008. Shortly after her separation from Elmi, Omar and Hirsi reconciled.</p><p>Omar has denied the allegations that she married her brother, describing them as "absurd and offensive."</p>