Obama condemns search of Omar’s home as Homan discusses deportation

Former President Barack Obama condemned a federal search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home, calling it a “transparent” effort to intimidate a critic of President Donald Trump. He also criticized what he described as an effort to deport the Minnesota Democrat. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said an investigation could lead to her denaturalization and deportation if the evidence supported it.

“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,” Obama wrote on X on Sunday. He urged Americans to defend Omar regardless of their views of her politics, warning that such actions might not stop with her.

Federal agents searched Omar’s home as part of an investigation into whether she or her family violated laws in obtaining her citizenship, The Guardian reported. Agents confiscated personal records and seized her phone, according to Obama’s statement. The Justice Department has not publicly presented evidence against her.

Omar was born in Somalia. Obama said she arrived in the United States with her father at 12 and became a citizen when he was naturalized five years later, when she was 17. He described as unsubstantiated the theory that she had already turned 18 at the time and therefore had not acquired citizenship through her father.

On Saturday, Homan was asked on Fox News whether the investigation could lead to Omar’s denaturalization and deportation. “Of course,” he replied. “If you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody.” Homan said the process was lengthy and could apply “if the evidence points that way.” Asked about other possible allegations, he declined to elaborate, saying that was a question for the FBI.

A person familiar with the investigation told NBC News that federal officials had cited possible charges including conspiracy and making false statements in immigration paperwork. Omar denies accusations that she obtained citizenship fraudulently. Her lawyers said in a letter that there is “no legitimate basis for any suggestion that she has violated any law concerning her citizenship status.” They have asked for her property to be returned, according to The Guardian.

The investigation began weeks before November’s midterm elections, in which Omar is on the ballot, The Guardian reported. Her attorneys accused the Justice Department of potentially influencing an election in violation of longstanding internal policy. NBC News reported that Justice Department veterans were alarmed by the timing of the search, including its proximity to the election and its occurrence during a federal holiday.

Omar called the search “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” She said Trump had targeted her with “baseless lies and smear campaigns” for years and added, “I will not be silenced.”

Trump said last week that the search had “nothing to do” with him and was “really up to the DOJ,” NBC News reported. He also called Omar “a terrible person.” Obama warned that if such actions became normal practice, future presidents of either party could do the same.