Search at Washington property associated with Ilhan Omar draws scrutiny

Federal agents searched a Washington, D.C., property associated with Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar on Monday, three weeks before she seeks reelection. Omar and other Democrats accused the Trump administration of using law enforcement against a political opponent. President Donald Trump said he had “nothing to do” with the search.

Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a “judicially authorized search warrant” as part of an ongoing federal investigation, the Justice Department told NPR. The department did not publicly identify the subject of the investigation or say what agents sought.

The search took place before dawn, according to Al Jazeera. The outlet reported that the street was blocked off and agents were seen removing boxes labeled “Seized Property Evidence”; it did not say where the boxes were removed from. A neighbor, 79-year-old Sharon Jackson, told NPR that loud knocking woke her around 4:30 a.m. and that she saw vans and agents wearing gloves moving to and from the property.

NPR reported, citing current and former federal officials familiar with the search, that a multiyear investigation involving whistleblower complaints focuses on allegations of immigration fraud. Al Jazeera cited a person who told Reuters that part of the investigation concerns paperwork completed by Omar’s late father when she was a child. Neither outlet reported any charges.

Omar, a U.S. citizen who fled Somalia’s civil war with her family as a child, denies allegations of immigration fraud. Vice President JD Vance accused her of it in March without offering evidence, according to Al Jazeera; her office called the allegation fabricated and defamatory. Omar described Monday’s search as an attempt to “weaponise federal law enforcement.”

“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns,” she wrote on X. “This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.”

Omar is seeking a fifth term representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in the November 3 midterm election. Al Jazeera reported that her Republican opponent is Dalia al-Aqidi, an Iraq-born former journalist whom Omar defeated in 2024. Omar won that race by 50 percentage points, the outlet reported.

The timing has drawn attention because Justice Department policy generally seeks to avoid actions that could appear to influence an election. Randall Eliason, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor, told Al Jazeera the search appeared to depart from the department’s historical practice of avoiding overt investigative steps against candidates within roughly 60 days of a vote. “The idea is to avoid even the appearance of any kind of interference by the Department of Justice with the political process,” he said.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Representatives Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar called the search “deeply disturbing” and promised to seek accountability. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accused Trump of abusing his power. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said that if fraud were proven, Omar should be stripped of her citizenship and removed from the country, Al Jazeera reported.

Trump told reporters the search was “really up to the DOJ.” At a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, later Monday, he said of Omar, “She comes from one of the worst countries anywhere on the planet,” as the crowd chanted “Deport,” according to Al Jazeera.