Rep. Ilhan Omar will leave her Washington, D.C., home after a federal search, saying the attention left her unsafe even as she insists she did nothing wrong.
Homeland Security investigators arrived at U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence around 6 a.m. last week with a warrant. They stayed four or five hours, logged what they took, returned other items, and seized 17 pieces of property.
The Minnesota Democrat said Wednesday she will move out. In her first interview since the raid, she told MS NOW the attention from the search made the house feel unsafe. Federal authorities are examining potential fraud in her family’s immigration paperwork and have issued grand jury subpoenas to some of her relatives, a person briefed on the investigation told the Associated Press.
The Justice Department has shared few details beyond calling the matter a criminal investigation. No charges against Omar appear in the available reporting. She is running for reelection in a deep-blue Minneapolis-centered district and is widely expected to keep the seat.
That same probe has already drawn related coverage of Omar’s plans to leave the D.C. residence after agents searched the property.
Omar described the agents as intrusive but polite. Among the 17 items taken were phones, notebooks, a Somali-language children’s book, and a vintage camera her husband had received as a gift.
Omar, a progressive Democrat born in Somalia, came to the United States at age 12 after her family obtained asylum. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000. She used that timeline to dismiss the fraud angle.
She told interviewers she remains sure of her own conduct.
"confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong."
She went further on the idea that the paperwork trail reaches back to her arrival as a child.
"It would be a huge undertaking to, I suppose, indict a 12-year-old for so cleverly conspiring to defraud immigration services to come to the United States. I'm sure there are a lot of smart 12-year-olds, but that seems like a leap,"
Congressional Democrats issued sharp condemnation of the search and questioned its timing. The raid came weeks out from the Nov. 3 midterms that will decide control of the House and Senate. The Justice Department has historically avoided overt investigative steps involving candidates in the immediate run-up to an election.
Separate reporting has tracked how Omar responded after agents searched her D.C. home and how the immigration questions followed.
Just The News reported Omar said the Oct. 12 raid made continued residence impossible. Agents numbering as many as 25 took part in the multi-hour search. She cited the newly public address and ongoing threats.
Omar put the practical problem in plain terms.
"Obviously, I can’t continue to live there. Our address has been public. And with the death threats that I deal with, it’s no longer going to be feasible to be in that house and have my kids visiting off and on, having people track them."
She still faces the same federal inquiry that produced the warrant and the subpoenas. The person briefed on the case, speaking only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an open investigation, said the focus is potential fraud in the family’s immigration filings and that some relatives received grand jury subpoenas.
Watchdogs and officials have already flagged that more developments may follow the HSI raid on the congresswoman’s home.
Omar is a frequent critic of President Donald Trump. The AP noted Trump has on multiple occasions pushed for prosecution of people he views as political enemies. Democrats seized on that backdrop when they attacked the timing of the search.
What the public record still lacks is equally clear. The warrant’s full scope has not been released. The complete list of 17 seized items beyond the examples Omar described is not public. No case number, statute, or charging document naming Omar appears in the reporting. Which relatives received subpoenas, and what those subpoenas seek, remains undisclosed.
Political coverage has also noted Senate Democratic silence as the federal case advanced around the same immigration questions.
Omar continues her reelection bid in a district that has reliably backed her. She says the agents were polite even while intrusive. She says she did nothing wrong. She also says she cannot stay in the house they searched.
Federal investigators executed a lawful warrant, carted off phones and papers, and left a sitting member of Congress packing boxes. Accountability does not pause for progressive celebrities or midterm calendars.
