Former President Barack Obama has publicly defended Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) after Department of Homeland Security agents raided her Washington, D.C. home as part of a federal immigration fraud investigation.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents conducted the raid on Monday and seized Omar’s cellphone, according to a Fox News Digital report. The Justice Department has also issued subpoenas to the congresswoman’s relatives as part of the probe, which centers on whether Omar misrepresented her age when she immigrated to the United States in 1995. Omar became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000.
In a post on X, Obama argued that the raid amounted to political retaliation against a sitting member of Congress. “It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs,” Obama wrote, adding that this is “exactly” what the Trump administration is doing to Omar.
Obama recounted Omar’s biography in his post, noting she came to the United States “with her father when she was 12 years old,” and that “five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen.”
“If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically.”
Obama went on to describe Omar’s path from college graduate and community organizer to becoming “the first Somali-American legislator elected to public office in the U.S.”
He argued the current investigation rests on shaky ground. “Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen,” Obama wrote. “Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.”
“Think about that,” Obama continued. “The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president. And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies — from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve.”
What triggered the search
A New York Times report cited three sources “familiar with the matter” who said federal investigators seized the phone belonging to Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, earlier this year. Family text messages recovered from that phone reportedly prompted the search warrant that led to Monday’s raid, as investigators examine whether Omar conspired to commit immigration fraud when she entered the country in the 1990s.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has also publicly questioned the raid, saying she could not “conceptualize” how a judge would approve what she characterized as a “fishing expedition.”
The investigation remains ongoing, and no charges against Omar have been announced.
