White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed Sunday that federal immigration authorities are investigating allegations involving Rep. Ilhan Omar, while declining to disclose what evidence investigators possess or what direction the inquiry may ultimately take.
During an appearance on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing,” Homan was asked whether federal authorities had evidence that the Minnesota Democrat committed immigration or naturalization fraud. Rather than discussing evidence, Homan said the matter was active.
“I know things are going on, but I can’t give specifics of what’s happening,” Homan said.
Homan then said that Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was continuing its work.
“If someone committed an immigration violation, if someone committed marriage fraud or anything like that, regardless if they’re a congressman or not, no one’s above the law. So, I’ll leave it at that. We’ll let HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, continue the investigation.”
Asked whether he was specifically confirming an investigation involving Omar, Homan replied: “I’m confirming that ICE is, yeah, look, I said months ago that there’s something that’s been reported and needs to be looked at.”
The comments are significant because allegations surrounding Omar’s marital and immigration history have circulated for years, but allegations and an investigation are not the same thing as a criminal charge or finding of wrongdoing. As of Homan’s remarks, authorities had not publicly announced charges against Omar or released evidence establishing immigration or naturalization fraud.
The central allegation concerns Omar’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen. Critics have alleged that Elmi was Omar’s brother and that the marriage was connected to immigration benefits. Omar has repeatedly denied that allegation.
Public reporting over the years has identified unresolved questions about Omar’s marital history, but has not established that Elmi was her brother. A 2019 Minnesota Star Tribune examination of public records, including marriage and divorce records, business licenses and university records, reported that it could neither conclusively confirm nor rebut the sibling allegation.
Omar previously called suggestions that Elmi was her brother “absurd and offensive.” She said she married Elmi in 2009 after reaching an impasse in her relationship with Ahmed Hirsi, separated from Elmi in 2011 and later reconciled with Hirsi.
Her marital history nevertheless produced a separate documented controversy. Minnesota campaign-finance records showed that Omar filed joint federal tax returns with Hirsi for 2014 and 2015 while she was legally married to Elmi. The Star Tribune reported that Omar later corrected the tax discrepancy.
Homan also addressed what could happen in a hypothetical case where naturalization fraud is actually proven.
“If someone lies through that process to becoming a citizen, and we can prove they, in fact, lied or misrepresented themselves, we can absolutely denaturalize them,” Homan said. “We’ve done it before many times over the last 40 years I’ve been around, so it’s a process.”
Denaturalization is a legal process and is not an automatic consequence of an allegation. The government would have to establish legally sufficient grounds, and Homan did not say Sunday that investigators had reached such a conclusion regarding Omar.
That distinction remains important as the investigation unfolds. Homan publicly confirmed that federal investigators are examining allegations involving Omar, but he declined to reveal their evidence. No criminal charges were announced alongside his comments, and the longstanding allegation that Omar married her brother remains unproven publicly.
For now, the development is that an allegation that spent years circulating largely in political debate is receiving scrutiny from federal immigration investigators. What investigators ultimately find, and whether their inquiry produces any legal action, remains unresolved.
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