Federal agents searched the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) early Monday morning as part of a criminal investigation into possible immigration fraud tied to her paperwork, according to a report from Fox News. The search was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations, a division of the Department of Homeland Security.
Border czar Tom Homan had said last month that a criminal investigation into Omar was underway, though details were not disclosed at the time.
The Washington Post reported that the investigation has been given the internal nickname “World War Eleven” by administration officials, a reference to a comment Omar made during a January 2025 press conference. Speaking in support of the “Neighbors Not Enemies Act,” legislation aimed at repealing the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, Omar said the law had last been used “to detain and deport German, Japanese, Italian immigrants during World War Eleven” — misreading the Roman numeral “II” as the number eleven. The remark went viral after resurfacing online in late April 2026.
A senior Trump administration official, speaking to the Post on condition of anonymity, confirmed the raid and said the investigation is being led internally by White House deputy homeland security adviser Anthony Salisbury, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow, and Attorney General Todd Blanche. The official said the inquiry got its nickname because of the uproar it was expected to cause, and that it has accelerated in recent weeks.
The Post noted that allegations about Omar’s immigration history have circulated among conservative commentators for years, but that federal officials who have raised those allegations have not publicly produced evidence to substantiate them.
Omar Responds
Omar issued her first public comments after the search in a statement posted to social media. “I’m ok,” she wrote.
“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. 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.”
She concluded her statement by saying, “I will not be silenced.”
The raid and its code name quickly drew attention on social media, with commentary split along familiar political lines — some mocking the nickname as fitting given Omar’s earlier remark, others framing the search itself as an act of political retaliation.
