Federal agents executed a search warrant at Democratic Rep Ilhan Omar’s Washington home early Tuesday, a move officials described as part of a criminal investigation and one that intensifies President Donald Trump’s long-running clash with the outspoken Minnesota lawmaker.
Minnesota Democratic Gov Tim Walz condemned the action, accusing Mr Trump of “abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election.”
Ms Omar said she was “ok” after the operation but argued the administration was targeting political adversaries just three weeks before she seeks re-election in the 3 November midterms.
Ilhan Omar has been a fierce critic of the Trump administration
The predawn search, which Mr Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan said was tied to a longstanding inquiry, was carried out by agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative arm of US immigration enforcement.
“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” Ms Omar wrote on X.
“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
The raid quickly set off a wave of anger among Democrats, who said the president was using the machinery of government to hound his opponents.
Fox News reported the search was connected to a criminal fraud investigation involving immigration paperwork submitted on behalf of the Somali-born congresswoman by her late father when she was a child.
Asked about Ms Omar hours after the search, the president told reporters she was being examined “very carefully.”
“I’ve always found her to be totally crooked personally, but that has nothing to do with me. I think she’s a terrible person, just a complainer. She comes from a country that is a non-country,” he said at the White House.
The Justice Department, in a statement, said agents had carried out a “judicially authorized search warrant” in the Washington area, while declining to name Ms Omar or describe the underlying allegations.
“This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” prosecutors added.
Ms Omar, 44, is a leftist Democrat who has become one of Mr Trump’s most prominent critics, particularly over his administration’s far-reaching immigration crackdown.
Mr Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly singled out Ms Omar, who arrived in the United States from Somalia as a child and has often been the focus of his political attacks.
Political backlash
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team called the search “deeply disturbing,” saying it raised alarms about “the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries.”
Republican Rep Nancy Mace, meanwhile, said Ms Omar should lose her US citizenship and be deported if fraud were established.
“NO ONE is above the law,” she wrote on X.
The timing also prompted criticism from Xochitl Hinojosa, a former Justice Department public affairs director.
“There’s a longstanding rule at DOJ that you don’t take overt actions like this before an election, especially when there’s a candidate on the ballot,” she wrote on X.
Democrats accused the administration of weaponising federal agencies
Ms Omar said in September that Homeland Security officials had not reached out to her about any investigation, and she brushed off the claims as politically motivated.
First elected to Congress in 2018, Ms Omar represents a district that includes Minneapolis, a city with one of the largest Somali communities in the United States.
She is part of the group of left-wing Democratic lawmakers known as “The Squad,” a bloc that has been among Mr Trump’s most vocal opposition in Congress.
No charges against Ms Omar were announced in connection with the search.
