▲ U.S. federal law enforcement officers conduct a raid on the Washington, D.C., home of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on October 12 (local time).
U.S. federal law enforcement agencies raided the Washington, D.C., home of Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Somalia-born member of the opposition Democratic Party, on October 12 (local time).
According to reports by Fox News and other outlets, agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) were dispatched to Omar's residence in Washington at around 6 a.m. Eastern Time that day to carry out the search.
A DOJ spokesperson told Fox News, "Today in Washington, D.C., HSI executed a search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This action is part of an ongoing federal investigation," while declining to specify the exact charges under investigation.
However, two sources told Fox News that the probe is part of a fraud investigation related to documents completed by Omar's late father when she immigrated to the United States from Somalia.
Omar is an immigrant who fled the Somali Civil War to come to the United States and has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump.
When she entered the federal legislature through the 2018 midterm elections, she drew attention as a member of "The Squad," a group of four prominent, progressive freshman congresswomen in the Democratic Party.
President Trump and the Republican Party have claimed that Omar married her own brother in order to immigrate to the United States and have argued that her citizenship should be revoked and she should be deported.
However, Omar has strongly denied these allegations, calling them "disgusting lies."
Representative Omar and the Democratic leadership strongly condemned the authorities' raid that day.
In a statement, Omar's office said, "This is an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political opponents. Representative Omar has done nothing wrong."
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other Democratic House leaders also issued a statement saying, "With less than 30 days until the midterms, Trump's violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected member of Congress and her family. We will hold the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice fully accountable for this reckless abuse of power."
Fox News noted that this coercive investigation by U.S. law enforcement comes about a month after White House "Border Czar" Tom Homan confirmed in September that an investigation into Omar was underway.
Previously, Homan said in a September interview with Fox News, "If someone violated immigration laws, committed marriage fraud, or anything similar, no one is above the law, whether they are in the House or not."
However, controversy has also been raised that the raid, conducted 22 days before the midterm elections (scheduled for November 3), violated the Justice Department's self-imposed unwritten rule—the so-called "60-day rule"—which dictates that public investigations and indictments should be avoided within 60 days of an election so as not to influence the vote.
The New York Times (NYT) pointed out that while exceptions to this rule exist and debates have continued over the scope of targets for investigation and prosecution, "For years, however, Justice Department officials have concluded that highly visible searches of a politician's home or business are precisely the sort of activity to be avoided during the 60-day window."
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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