ICE Investigates Ilhan Omar Over Allegations of Immigration Fraud

<p>Homeland Security Investigations is conducting an investigation into Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) regarding allegations of immigration fraud, as stated by White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday.</p><p>Homan's comments follow remarks made by 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 accuse Omar of immigration fraud but confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is examining the allegations and did not dismiss the possibility of stripping her of her American citizenship.</p><p>“I’m not going to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation,” Homan told Fox News host Jacqui Heinrich on Sunday. “I know things are going on. But I can’t give specifics of what’s happening. But we’ll see.”</p><p>Homan 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>Heinrich pressed Homan on whether his comments confirmed that an investigation is ongoing.</p><p>“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,” Homan replied.</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.</p><p>“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,” Homan said.</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 argue that such an investigation is politically motivated.</p><p>“There’s nothing political about it,” he said. “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 secured her citizenship in 2000 at the age of 17.</p><p>In 2009, she married British citizen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, who some allege is her biological brother. The couple reportedly separated in 2011 and formally divorced in 2017.</p><p>It was Omar’s second marriage.</p><p>In 2002, Omar married Ahmed Hirsi in a religious ceremony, but the union was never legally recognized.</p><p>Omar has stated that she separated from Hirsi in 2008. Just months after her separation from Elmi, Omar and Hirsi reconciled.</p><p>Omar has denied the allegations that she married her brother, calling them “absurd and offensive.”</p>