Rep. Ilhan Omar’s attorneys are demanding the immediate return of property seized from her home, calling a federal immigration fraud investigation targeting the Minnesota Democrat “neither justified nor lawful.”
In a letter sent Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, Omar’s lawyers portrayed the search as an unsupported attempt to pursue one of Republican President Donald Trump’s longtime political opponents. They also pointed to the timing: federal agents searched her home just weeks before the midterm elections, in which Omar is a candidate.
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Omar’s attorneys wrote that there is “no legitimate basis for any suggestion that she has violated any law concerning her citizenship status.”
“This vindictive, retributive, and politically motivated criminal investigation into one of the President’s chief congressional critics violates Representative Omar’s constitutional rights and threatens the separation of powers,” her legal team wrote in the letter, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
A Justice Department spokesperson rejected the claims, saying Omar’s lawyers’ letter contained “false allegations and inaccuracies.”
“Our attorneys and law enforcement partners complied with all court orders and legal obligations, as they always do,” department spokesperson Emily Covington said in a text message Friday evening.
The search of Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence on Monday prompted immediate criticism from Democrats. The Justice Department has historically avoided taking public investigative steps involving a candidate within 60 days of a primary or general election.
Agents seized Omar’s phone during the search and have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including subpoenas involving some of her relatives, according to a person briefed on the investigation who spoke to the AP this week.
The precise focus of the investigation remains unclear. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has indicated that authorities may be examining possible crimes involving immigration paperwork connected to Omar’s family. Separately, Washington’s U.S Attorney Jeanine Pirro has said “there are several investigations going on” involving Omar, while her office is examining matters related to the lawmaker’s financial disclosures.
Omar’s lawyers also accused the Justice Department of disregarding longstanding agency policy intended to prevent investigative actions from affecting an election. They questioned whether officials followed each of the specific instructions issued by the magistrate judge who authorized the search.
Beyond seeking the return of Omar’s property, her attorneys are asking the Justice Department to preserve all audio and video recorded during the operation, according to the letter.
Conservative critics have questioned Omar’s marriage and immigration history for years, including before she entered Congress. Omar has repeatedly rejected those allegations.
Her House biography says Omar and her family fled Somalia’s civil war when she was 8: “The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in 1990s. In 1997, she moved to Minneapolis with her family.” Her attorneys say she became a lawfully naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000.
Conservative websites have alleged that Omar married her brother as part of an immigration fraud scheme. Omar has broadly dismissed the claims as “disgusting lies” and described the insinuation as “absurd and offensive.”
The search came days after Trump referred disparagingly to Omar at a rally in Tennessee, saying she came from a country of “crime and squalor” and suggesting that Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her. Hours after the search, Trump told reporters he had “nothing to do” with it and that the matter was “really up to the DOJ.”
