Trump administration seeks to strip Ilhan Omar of US citizenship: WSJ

Key points

• The Trump administration is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar to revoke her citizenship and possibly deport her, WSJ reports.
• The inquiry focuses on whether she or her late father altered her age in immigration paperwork.
• Federal agents raided Omar's home days before the report, seizing her passport and electronics.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is investigating Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to revoke her citizenship and eventually deport her, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing US officials and people familiar with the investigation.

The inquiry focuses partly on how the Minnesota representative obtained citizenship after arriving in the US as a refugee from Somalia. Authorities are examining her family's immigration records and have issued more than a dozen subpoenas, including to some relatives, seeking testimony before a grand jury in Minnesota. Omar's office rejected the investigation as baseless, the Journal said.

Raid on Omar's home

The Journal's report comes just days after US federal agents raided Omar's home, which her office called an "unprecedented escalation" by the Trump administration against political opponents. The search occurred weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, a crucial vote for Republicans seeking to keep control of Congress. Omar is running for a fifth term in Minnesota's 5th congressional district.

The Department of Homeland Security said the raid was part of "an ongoing federal investigation". Agents took Omar's passport, mobile phone, personal computers and notebooks, according to people familiar with the search. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), part of ICE, executed a "judicially authorized search warrant", and on Monday morning agents blocked off the street and removed boxes labelled "Seized Property Evidence".

nothing to do

— Donald Trump

Citizenship allegations

Omar arrived in the US in 1995 after living in a refugee camp in Kenya and became a citizen in 2000. She has previously denied committing immigration fraud. The Journal reported that the key question is whether Omar or her late father altered her age in immigration paperwork to show she was 17 rather than 18 when her father applied for citizenship, potentially allowing her to acquire citizenship through him instead of a separate process.

Omar's father died in 2020, complicating efforts to determine whether Omar lied about her age or her father lied on her behalf. The Journal also reported that HSI officials looked into a similar allegation during the Biden administration but did not pursue it due to lack of evidence. No lawsuit seeking to revoke her citizenship has been reported; such a move would require court proceedings. A nonpartisan congressional watchdog had earlier cleared Omar of wrongdoing over disclosures that overstated her assets.