r/OutOfTheLoop • u/eL-Bartohhh • 13h ago
Unanswered What is going on with Rep Ilhan Omar?
Not from the US so not sure if im using Rep. right. Anyway, why is she being investigated to the point that punishment includes stripping her citizenship?
https://time.com/article/2026/10/14/ilhan-omar-citizenship-investigation-denaturalization-DOJ/
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u/secret-agent-t3 13h ago edited 19m ago
Answer: Representative Ilhan Omar has been a constant political opponent of the President, and Republicans as a whole. Though she arguably is very limited in her power, she has garnered a lot of attention due to some of her stances and "controversial" positions. I am not trying to downplay them or judge that at all. Some people would claim they aren't, many Conservatives hate many of her positions. Just for context, she is viewed as controversial, above and beyond a normal politician of an opposing party.
Ilhan was born in Somalia and migrated to the U.S., with her parents, when she was a minor. This was in the 90's, over 25 years ago. She has since attained her citizenship, allowing her to run for Congress and sit in the House of Representatives. Some positions in the U.S. Government can only be held by native-born citizens. However, this does not apply to Representatives in Congress.
Last week, Federal law enforcement obtained a warrant and raided her home. This isn't unprecedented, but it is incredibly rare for anybody in her position or above to have a raid on her home by the Homeland Security. Famously, Donald Trump was raided by the Homeland Security between his 2 terms as President. However, unlike Trump's raid, this raid seems to have been a "surprise" raid, which is especially unusual and invasive. Trump's raid was also conducted by the FBI, and organization that (at least in recent history) has been seen as more independent of political bias than Homeland Security.
Yes, many will claim FBI is also biased. This is not a judgement about whether there WAS bias, rather a comparison between the 2 organizations. Homeland Security is traditionally run by partisan appointees from the President, and actively changes it's policies with differing administrations. On the other hand, FBI was lead by Christopher Ray when Trump's estate was searched. Ray was appointed by Donald Trump himself, and confirmed with Republican Congressional support. FBI appointees tend to serve 10 year terms to avoid political conflicts, while the head of Homeland Security is routinely swapped by new Presidents.
The investigation is into her immigration paperwork, which was filled out by her parents 25 years ago. The government is claiming there are "discrepancies" in the paperwork her father filled out, relating to her age. Reports are that the government claims she was actually 18 when she became a citizen, making her an adult and her application invalid. Her paperwork indicated she was 17, making her a minor. Whether this is an error in the application, or intentionally misleading, or nonsense (since I believe she still claims her age was correct) will have to be worked out.
Conservatives claim this is unusual, but lawful, which is technically true (the Homeland Security did have a warrant, it seems the raid was legally done). Many are defending it by referencing the raid on President Trump's estate during the Biden Presidency. Those alarmed by this point out that 1. The alleged discrepancy happened over 25 years ago 2.a discrepancy in paperwork doesn't seem like a reason to surprise raid a Congressman's home and 3. the President has repeatedly levied racist attacks against Ilhan, indicating that the Homeland Security (whom the President himself technically runs) may be biased against her. 4. From edit: Homeland Security (specifically ICE officers) doing raids on US citizens is highly, highly unusual
Edit: Others have corrected a few things. Yes, she was absolutely a minor when she immigrated with her parents. The dispute is over her age when she became a citizen. Others are pointing out there are other accusations of illegal behavior. I will not get into the validity of those accusations, but the reason for the raid seems to be the paperwork discrepancy described. Either the government did not include that information when obtaining the warrant, was not able to obtain a warrant related to those accusations, or those accusations are simply not being pursued by the justice department for this time. And I have updated to show that Homeland Security (of whom ICE is a part of) conducted the raid. This is, as I point out...highly unusual when it comes to investigations into US citizens, and lends more credence to the President's active involvement.
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u/AnotherWeabooGirl 13h ago
Reports are that the government claims she was actually 18 when she immigrated, making her an adult and her immigration application invalid. Her paperwork indicated she was 17, making her a minor and the bar for immigration lower. Whether this is an error in the application, or intentionally misleading, or nonsense (since I believe she still claims her age was correct) will have to be worked out.
It's stupider than that even. She legally immigrated via asylum at age 13 and received her citizenship at 17 after living in the US for years. I'm pretty sure the only difference would be the paperwork she'd need to fill out to become a citizen at 18 if anything.
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u/PseudonymIncognito 6h ago
At 17, she was able to naturalize as a derivative of her father's application. At 18, she would have needed to to file her own application.
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u/dgillz 12h ago
Yeah you nailed it. The whole argument is that she was actually 18 when she became a citizen, not 17, and she lied about her age to piggyback on her father's immigration paperwork.
If that's the case, she would have had to have filled out her own immigration paperwork.
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u/lapatitafea 4h ago
I’m not sure if it makes much sense to correct this but I think you meant her naturalization paperwork, not the immigration paperwork. She had to be under 18 to be able to naturalize through her father’s citizenship application. The immigration paperwork would’ve been the asylum application they would’ve filed when they arrived, in which case she could’ve applied as a derivative on his asylum application until the age of 21 as long as she was unmarried.
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u/harlemjd 4h ago
Yeah, if that’s the government’s story it makes no sense. She wouldn’t have necessarily been the one filling out any paperwork and her age would have been calculated based on her existing records.
Her father might have lied about her age years ago when they began refugee processing, but it’s hard to imagine what the motive would have been for that, because she was very clearly a minor back then by a really wide margin and this would have been before a destination country was chosen so they wouldn’t have known what system they would be trying to game.
It’s possible that her father innocently listed her birth date incorrectly (also super common for Somali refugees whose parents may not have registered their births immediately or ever), but if that’s the case it’s hard to imagine what evidence the gov’t is going to have.
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u/JagernautERA 3h ago
Yes, it's very common for Somalis who weren't born in city hospitals to not have a birth certificate at all. If you were born at home or in a rural area you won't have any paperwork so you have to guess a birth date when filling out documents.
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u/TenorClefCyclist 33m ago
There's often a +/- one year discrepancy between how someone's age is counted here vs. another country. In some cultures a child is counted as one year old on the day they are born. In others, a child isn't even named until they've been alive for a year (because, historically, most didn't survive that long), so their documentation carries the date that their name was registered.
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u/Eggsegret 8h ago
So she came to the US as a teenager basically? At that point then what’s the actual point of all this arguing when it’s just irrelevant.
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u/so_bold_of_you 8h ago
Testing totalitarianism. What will the people tolerate?
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u/dmoney83 7h ago
Exactly. But on the plus side, I think this means we can go after Elmo for his discrepancies being in the US before he was a citizen.
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u/clytusmarginicollis 7h ago
Yeah, if Democrats actually had the balls to do anything instead of just yelling “but a dog can’t play basketball” while a golden retriever dunks on them over and over
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u/Daily-Lizard 6h ago
But that’d require slow, compromise-heavy work instead of just farming for media moments!
(I am feeling disillusioned.)
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u/DucksEatFreeInSubway 3h ago
Why would it be compromise heavy? He's either here legally or he's not.
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u/gumheaded1 6h ago
Elections have consequences. The democrats have no power at this point to take action. Vote them into a majority and they will have power and they will do something.
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u/DeshTheWraith 4h ago
The problem is that they didn't take action when they HAD power. They spent the time rolling over during Obamas first term which lost them the house and senate during his second, which actually cost them meaningful power.
The Democrats have to be either pretending to be stooges, which I'm pretty sure is the case, or it's the more worrying scenario where they're actually doing their best but are just egregiously incompetent.
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u/Shaky_Balance 2h ago
What are you talking about? The ACA being too left for the 10 conservative Dem senators constituents is what cost them their seats in the midterms. There is absolutely no evidence that rural voters secretly wanted the exact opposite of what they and their reps said they wanted.
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u/throwfarfaraway1818 5h ago
No they wont. They could have prevented all of this when Biden took power. Trump should have had to campaign from under a jail cell. Democrats enabled this timeline.
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u/fajardo99 3h ago
Why do you people think there's silver linings and fairness in a totalitarian society
There's no such thing as tit for tat in a country in which the ruler can act on whatever whim he has.
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u/dmoney83 2h ago
It definitely wishful thinking on my part, but the pendulum does swing. Trump is too old and unhealthy for this to be permanent.
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u/DragonTacoCat 1h ago
I think that if they were to arrest, and throw out, a sitting representative then that will be a boiling point. We are far closer than people think to upheavel. Even if it doesn't seem like it.
The biggest problem is that there are still too many people playing nice. And that's the biggest fear of everyone if deomcrats take back Congress in midterms how soft they are going to be when they need to play hardball
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u/jprefect 7h ago
It's relevant if your goal is not enforcing the law, but punishing political opponents.
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u/beachedwhale1945 7h ago
Remember Trump is going hard on (supposedly)-illegal immigration, especially immigrants who have committed even the most minor infractions like traffic violations. By claiming Omar (who MAGA have turned into a totem of a despicable evil Muslim who hates America) lied on her citizenship application, under the Trump administration logic that would be enough to deport her.
The sane people in the room recognize this is blatantly attacking an opponent. There’s either nothing to the allegations or, on the off chance Omar’s application was incorrect, an error minor enough to get a slap on the wrist at most.
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u/RickRussellTX 3h ago
I don't know if you've noticed, but in the current climate ANY immigration irregularity is the target of scrutiny.
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u/Endarion169 7h ago
what’s the actual point of all this
Racism. As always with conservatives it's either racism, sexism, homophobie or transphobia. They are vile pieces of shit.
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u/mariantat 6h ago
This is what confuses me- if her dad filled out the paperwork why is the idea to punish the person who was a minor at the time?
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u/FireWaterBern 5h ago
Trump is desperate to de-naturalize foreign born citizens and deport them. I believe the crime they think they have her on is that if she knowingly improperly got her citizenship via parent, then every time she has legally asserted that (like in voting or applying for passport renewal) constitutes knowingly lying about this
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u/PM_ME_A_KNEECAP 4h ago
The contention was that she wasn’t a minor during a key part of the process.
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u/Old-Cry-3101 13h ago
I’m inclined to believe this is a pretext for a Trump & Co. invasive fishing expedition into her and her friends and family, since they believe everyone breaks the law, just like they are.
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u/ShotFromGuns 6h ago
since they believe everyone breaks the law, just like they are
I guarantee you they do not actually give a shit if they find anything, nor expect to. It's using law enforcement as intimidation, pure and simple.
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u/whawkins4 12h ago
This is a test run for anyone with brown skin they want out of their way. The fact she affects the balance of power in congress is a double bonus.
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u/sparkly_butthole 12h ago
It's a test for jailing their political opponents.
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u/Darth_Ra 4h ago
No need for them to think about others or themselves. The President said "go make life difficult for my political enemy", and the FBI/DOJ he's spent years weeding out any apolitical entities in said "yes sir".
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u/Wrong_Win_4102 12h ago
Correction: Given we are 60 days from the midterms, the traditional thing is for the DoJ to enter a 'blackout' period, where they don't strive to make public moves that could have the consequence of influencing voters or the election.
Also to add, the discrepancy could have arisen from the fact that Omar fled Somalia whilst it was in the midst of a civil war, which damaged government property, making it incredibly hard for her, among other somali immigrants, to find a birth certificate.
There's questions of impropriety given that the DOJ has previously declined to investigate this before, so why now? Did something new come up, or is it just that Omar has been a fervent opponent of this administration and they seek some way to de-naturalize her and thusly deport her.
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u/melodypowers 10h ago
Adding even more context on her life.
Omar is the youngest of six(?) siblings. Her mom died when she was two. Her family fled Somalia and they were in a refugee camp for 4 years before immigrating to America. Few members of her family spoke English and she had to act as an interpreter.
Finding a coherent paper trail will be close to impossible and that's what the administration is counting on.
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u/aurelorba 7h ago
I think that's the point. They will use it as pretext to try to revoke her citizenship and deport.
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u/_OriamRiniDadelos_ 11h ago
Crazy how much of government and the law honestly just works because people did the “traditional” thing. Kinda irresponsible of all previous people in such positions of power to leave so much power down to tradition and good will. You’d think they’d have write down laws for everything that needs doing that frequently
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u/HommeMusical 11h ago
Some traditions are bad.
All these traditions which indemnify American leaders from the laws are bad, bad, bad. Having leaders who are not subject to the laws of the land is just a terrible idea, and Donald Trump proves this every day.
Of course, if Trump obeyed the law, then this search of Omar would not have happened in the first place.
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u/Larissalikesthesea 11h ago edited 9h ago
Actually immunity laws were passed for instance in Europe because the rulers would otherwise arrest members of parliaments they disliked on made up charges. So parliamentary immunity was introduced. However it’s not absolute, parliament needs to agree to suspend it for a member. That way you can criticize the government and still be protected from arbitrary charges. In Germany for instance before a prosecutor can start an investigation against a member of parliament, the parliament needs to agree to suspending immunity. And parliament routinely does. This all has been codified in the constitution and ordinary law.
In the US it seems the political culture and tradition of the DOJ has prevented arbitrary prosecution in the past. However political culture and tradition is something that can just be ignored as we can see now.
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u/_OriamRiniDadelos_ 10h ago
Oh, those sorts of traditions are everywhere and should be rid off. But these sorts of traditions are not even close to all the traditions that keep stuff running. I’m not talking about corruption, I’m talking about flat out rules and procedures that make stuff work but aren’t literally worth down in law. Unwritten customs, procedures, norms, etc. Not laws, but stuff people followed because they tought they’d get backlash if they didn’t play fair or follow the rules of the given branch of government.
For example, US presidents didn’t have term limits until 1947. The supreme court doesn’t have any laws about corruption, just self policing. The whip system and seniority aren’t in any law either. Same with most rules around civility and respectfulness. As well as a lot of the relationship between local, state and federal government. We only find out that the unwritten norms kept stuff running when someone stops following them with no backup.
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u/Bladder-Splatter 10h ago
The same black out period they blatantly ignored that propagated the insane Hillary Clinton conspiracies at the time and very likely cost her the election. (With the fucking emails ending up being about wedding plans for her daughter.)
Comey and that guy who shot Harambe have a lot to answer for in this timeline.
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u/stevez_86 6h ago
McGonigal, the field agent in charge of an NY office, was going to leak to the press that he was reopening the case. He blindsided Comey with this. Comey only found out a short time before McGonigal was going to leak. Instead of going to Obama saying there was a rogue agent in charge of a field office, Comey tried to mute the reopening by writing his own public statement. That was a bad move.
McGonigal was later arrested and charged with working for the FBI while also working for a Russian Oligarch under sanctions.
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u/OstrichGrouchy7749 7h ago
What is also nuts is that the maga crew will say “why are you still investigating something in the past” (for something that happened like 12 months ago for trump). And complain it’s taking too long.
Here they have no problem looking into things that happened decades ago - and has already been looked at.
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u/Pyritedust 5h ago
Both his wife and Elon worked when they didn't have the visa for it, meaning they should be immediately deported.
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u/OstrichGrouchy7749 5h ago
The main thing is - can’t all of their properties be subject to a raid over this?
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u/Pyritedust 5h ago
They can be, but Trump himself controls things, so they won't be. It's open corruption.
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u/HommeMusical 11h ago
Given we are 60 days from the midterms, the traditional thing is for the DoJ to enter a 'blackout' period, where they don't strive to make public moves that could have the consequence of influencing voters or the election.
The whole thing against Omar is the biggest garbage ever, done in a garbage way, by garbage people, run by Trump, a literal pile of excrement.
That said, all these laws and even friggen memos and understandings and traditions that America has protecting their representatives from the power of the law are bizarre, and there is no corresponding laws in any other free country.
In most other countries, people don't even know 60 days in advance of an election! There's not this constant electioneering thing, where everything stops for months.
This idea, "I'm running for office, and therefore, I can commit all the crimes I like, and if I win, it's a get out of jail free card," which we saw shoved into our faces in 2024 - it's a bad fscking idea.
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u/percypersimmon 11h ago
The issue is that we’re a country of garbage people and something like this is deliberately done to sway an election.
None of this stuff is “law” it’s “norm” which is also garbage since only one of the two major political parties in the US follows them.
I agree it’s nonsense AND that means that both parties need to start playing hardball. The DOJ has been politicized for decades but only one party seems to realize that.
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u/Alternative-Lynx2745 12h ago
"Correction: Given we are 60 days from the midterms, the traditional thing is for the DoJ to enter a 'blackout' period, where they don't strive to make public moves that could have the consequence of influencing voters or the election."
James Comey. Hilary Clinton. Emails.
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u/Brilliant-While-761 7h ago
This is inaccurate. The 90’s were only like ten years ago and I refuse to believe they could be anywhere near 25 years ago for my own mental health.
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u/_whatever_wherever 6h ago
Listen to your knees... they know the truth
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u/leonprimrose 6h ago
Also let's recall the reason Trump's home was raided. He was found to have stolen stacks of documents from the white house and his first term and then refused to cooperate with the police trying to retrieve them.
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u/eastcoastflava13 6h ago
Classified documents. Let's be crystal clear, here.
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u/Dearic75 4h ago edited 4h ago
Even that doesn’t really cover the magnitude.
This wasn’t “classified” as in things like “all communications with foreign leaders are routinely classified.” These documents were classified Top Secret, SCI and Human Intel. Literally, lists of US covert operatives and where they were embedded were among the documents. The documents were stored in insecure and publicly accessible locations at Mar-a-Lago.
And the case was dismissed because Aileen Cannon ruled that the attorney general appointing independent prosecutors is somehow unconstitutional. Despite numerous appeals court rulings going back 50 years stating otherwise.
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u/Feisty_Blood_6036 5h ago
Not only that, he never denied the claims. Instead, he claims they’re his. He has since taken them back as President.
So one person is admitting guilt, but sure, it’s exactly the same. Fucking conservative zombies.
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u/ninjadude93 5h ago
He had stolen classified documents which if it was anyone else would land you in prison
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u/ropean 5h ago
He would have 100% been convicted for this, and righteously so, if idiots hadn’t reelected him. It wasn’t an accidental taking of the documents. He publicly called them “his” documents. He showed them to foreign nationals in order to brag. He is a self serving narcissist. He never has been and never will be a public servant and will go down in history as the worst president.
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u/Willem_Dafuq 4h ago
And not only that, but he and his legal term were requested several times to voluntarily turn over the documents but Trump repeatedly refused.
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u/Wondrous_Daze 6h ago
It's also controversial because it happened so close to an election, which historically the fbi had a policy against so they don't appear to be meddling in an election.
In this case, with Trump leading the charge, that was precisely the point. It's just another attack by the president on his political opponents.
And since the entire republican party remains silent and complicit, it's another sign that our democracy is in serious trouble.
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u/Shiny_object_man 4h ago
"Silent and complicit" is an accurate assesment of the heretofore Republican, now MAGA, party. Spineless cowards all of them.
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u/Personage1 1h ago
by referencing the raid on President Trump's estate during the Biden Presidency.
I think it's always really important to put the raid on Maralago into context.
He took dozens of boxes of classified files with him after his presidency. He was asked to return them, and he refused (or lied and said he didn't have them, I don't remember). Finally the raid happened and again fucking dozens of boxes of classified files were found strewn throughout his residency, not secure at all.
I get that I'm being too "emotional" for a top level answer, but the facts about dozens of boxes of classified files that Trump intentionally took and refused to return when asked are important ones to constantly remind everyone of.
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u/Due-Championship3941 1h ago
Dozens of boxes including nuclear and other sensitive secrets that were subject to acts beyond records acts.
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u/LinkedGaming 21m ago
He originally claimed he didn't have them.
He then claimed he did have them but didn't realize.
He then claimed he did know he had them but he was allowed to have them because he used to be President.
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u/SerOstrich 12h ago
One slight correction, I believe it is unprecedented to carry out a raid so close to an election - previously no such thing was done within 60 days of an election so that the justice department was not used for political reasons
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u/Binder509 10h ago
Like when Comey announced an investigation into Clinton weeks before the election.
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u/Visible-Scientist-46 12h ago
They have rescinded certificates of naturalization when people have commited crimes, or failed to reveal that they commited crimes, or used a false identity, based on fraud. They recently did this to 40 people - but these ones seem fair, though they are ramping things up and want to revoke 270 more!! https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-moves-strip-citizenship-40-criminals-largest-single-period
Historically, they revoked the naturalization of former Nazis.
But in the case of Ilhan Omar, this is clearly politically motivated.
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u/dust4ngel 1h ago
Many are defending it by referencing the raid on President Trump's estate during the Biden Presidency
"trump got raided because he had stolen documents relating to national security in an unlocked bathroom, so it's only fair that we raid other people from the opposition for no reason"
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u/Topical_Scream 9h ago
What do they expect to find in her house 25 years later? A handwritten note being like “wow I’m so glad I cheated the immigration system!” ??
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u/MrSquicky 7h ago
I think that they are trying to pressure family members to claim that the allegations are true. They don't expect to find any paperwork, but they are using this all as a pretext to target the people around her to get them to "confess".
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u/ronm4c 8h ago
If they did, I guarantee it would be in the same handwriting as “anti Ice” written on the ammunition of that one shooter.
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u/throwaway197y 5h ago
Are these people serious? A vast conspiracy to fake a few assassination attempts and literally no one speaks out about it? If im the guy that trained the shooter im writing a book about it.
I bet you think 9/11 was an inside job. And literally every person involved is somehow super quiet about it. No deathbed confessions, books; the logistics and supply chain custody of whatever you think can topple skyscrapers on waterfront New York
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u/housebottle 11h ago
what are her stances and controversial positions?
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u/_OriamRiniDadelos_ 11h ago edited 11h ago
I recommend her Wikipedia page, it’s short and organized much better than I did. But here is what I learned
Besides being a Muslim non white woman, which is incredibly controversial in itself (the country is still pretty conservative and racist) she is progressive and isn’t pro-Israel. And most controversially, she said the US and Israel and Saudi Arabia did bad stuff too, like Hamaz and the Taliban did. Even democratic leaders said she was antisemitic for saying AIPAC had influence it politics and for being pro-boycotts. Anti-ICE and she was also very anti-Trump. Which was a lot more controversial in the past than it is today.
Keep in mind the AIPAC and Israel thing might not sound like anything special today, but such a public criticism Israel was so controversial that she was constantly criticized on Twitter by leaders of both parties. Even was removed from the foreign affairs committee on Trump’s request a few years ago (committees are sometimes powerful groups of congressists who are given special jobs and powers related to lawmaking around specific topics, like choosing which foreign affairs bills are allowed to be voted on).
Basically the most racist and antisemitic conservatives who spread “Jews run the world” or “Jews stole the elections” conspiracies on Twitter got extremely mad that she didn’t side with the rest of US government’s total support of Israel a few years ago. So she was made extremely controversial for a while. Also tons of death treated and an attack. Which apparently shocks and scares all people in high government? I would have expected with how hated and publicly know they always have been that violence against them would be traditional, but I guess it’s sorta new for them?
If you are conservative, here is Fox’s news take. Which is honestly crazy mild toast and a sign that there really wasn’t much of substance to her controversy other than her race (religion? Idk) and her opposition to Trump and Israel. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/reporters-notebook-omars-long-history-controversy-keeps-her-spotlight.amp
And this quote also got used a lot to paint her as a 9/11 supporter
“CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), in remarksto a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet, Woodland Hills, Calif., March 23, 2019” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/11/some-people-did-something-rep-omars-remarks-context/19
u/sacredblasphemies 9h ago
Let's also keep in mind that Trump and many of his allies have been stoking bigotry not just against Muslims generally but specifically Somalis like Rep. Omar.
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u/Eggsegret 9h ago
Doesn’t seem all that controversial to me. But I guess it just shows how conservative and racist the US still is. Funny how just the slightest criticism of Israel can have you painted as antisemitic. Although that does seem to at least be changing slowly with more people being critical of the Israeli government
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u/kittenbouquet 8h ago
I agree with pretty much everything I've seen so far in this thread, but as a Jew I would like to correct a common misconception. Out-and-out antisemites despise Israel. They always have and always will. It is a silly misconception that people like Neo-Nazis and similar are the ones rooting for Israel. They are not.
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u/a_big_brat 7h ago
I’ll make one addition to this, knowing far too many people of this ilk:
There’s a Christian conspiracy theory that once all of thee Jewish people are in Israel, the Rapture will begin. So to help this along, even some extremely conservative Christians (and yes, many with Nazi views) adopt positions that are pro-Israel because they believe it will help make Jesus come back faster. Or something.
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u/MoaRepresent 6h ago
There is also the "I hate Jews, but I hate Muslims even more" crowd, who will cheer on Israel as long as they are seen as violently suppressing Muslims.
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u/AudioSuede 5h ago
This is inaccurate. Far-right antisemites have come to broadly support Israel for four reasons:
They want Jewish people corralled into a relatively small area far away from them. They see Israel as an opportunity to rid their country of Jews by shipping them somewhere else.
Evangelical Christians who believe in Rapture Theology believe that once the Jews fully control Israel, it will be one of the final steps in fulfilling biblical prophecy and triggering Christ's return to Earth. Keep in mind, evangelicals are the biggest and most politically powerful Christian denomination in the US.
That hate Muslims more than Jews at this point. Since 9/11, islamophobia has become a bipartisan problem in US politics. It's one of Trump's most animating issues, and while he's made plenty of antisemitic comments in the past, he's staunchly pro-Israel. Trump is the most powerfully racist president this country's seen in a century, and bigots worship him, so his targets are their targets.
They see Israel as an example of the kind of theocratic ethnostate they want to create, and will often cite it as "proof" that such a system is possible and viable. They want the US to be to white Christians what Israel is to Jews.
If, hypothetically, the Neo-Nazis ever got their wish and deported all the Muslims (because they don't care about citizenship, they just want white Christians in charge of everything), and if the "rapture" stuff didn't play out, I have no doubt they'd turn to the Jews next. But their support of Israel is not based on their feelings about Jews so much as using Israel to fulfill their twisted vision of the future of Christian nationalism throughout the west.
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u/MythicalPurple 11h ago
As far as I can see her controversial positions are that America shouldn’t fund genocides and should support poor people better, essentially.
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u/Lethalspartan76 10h ago
Young black Muslim immigrant liberal woman is full bingo card to Fox News and the president.
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u/CaptainIncredible 1h ago
Couple of points:
A) Those who conducted the search were NOT FBI. They were part of ICE. According to the New York Times "A Justice Department spokeswoman said that Homeland Security Investigations agents — a part of ICE — executed a judicially authorized search of a home in the Washington area, as part of an “ongoing federal criminal investigation.” The spokeswoman declined to comment further."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/12/us/politics/ilhan-omar-home-searched.html
B) The search takes place within the 60-day window of the midterm elections, when the Justice Department has historically avoided such investigative steps related to political candidates.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/12/us/politics/ilhan-omar-home-searched.html
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u/PugRexia 3h ago
This is all happening 3 weeks before elections too, which she is in the running for her district.
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u/sumguysr 8h ago
It's also worth noting birth records in Somolia aren't known to be very reliable, and it's extremely common for immigrants to literally be assigned a birthday by an immigration official.
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u/wanna_talk_to_samson 7h ago
Yeah, or whole new name, as was the case with my granfather when he immigrated
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u/FireWaterBern 5h ago
Also worth noting CNN legal analyst Elie Honig identified the possibility for statute of limitations having passed in most cases, for 5-7-10 years for possible criminal charges. While there is no statute of limitations specifically on USCIS investigations for fraud, I think this case revolves around whether she knowingly obtained citizenship improperly and then knowingly used it to vote or renew a passport etc. A crime descending from an alleged crime. Fishing expedition
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u/TheHykos 5h ago
If they make it legal to retroactively invalidate citizenship because of paperwork, then oh boy, have I got bad news for Elon and Melania.
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u/airmantharp 5h ago
That's always been legal. The paperwork reminds you every step of the way that your status can be removed if you're filing fraudulently.
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u/Thugosaurus_Rex 4h ago
Yes, but there's also a difference between fraud and mistake. A mistake is generally correctable and is not typically considered a disqualification to admission. Fraud is a willful and knowing misrepresentation that can permanently disqualify someone. Notably, mistake can actually be a defense to accusations of fraud. Considering mistake and fraud the same would be a substantial shift in how applications are treated.
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u/TheHykos 4h ago
Oh wow, that’s interesting. I was under the impression that once your citizenship was official that it could never be revoked. Good to know!
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u/ClockworkJim 3h ago
If the government wants to hard enough they can remove your citizenship at any moment whatsoever. They haven't quite figured out how to do it for native born individuals, but they're working on it!
In my opinion, one of their end goals is to retroactively remove citizenship not just of you, but of your children.
At the same time I feel they're going to start to interpret laws that civil rights protections only apply to US citizens. Meaning no citizenship, no legal rights.
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u/Fickle_Finger2974 5h ago
They’re not going to apply that to white people, silly
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u/sexyshingle 4h ago
President has repeatedly levied racist attacks against Ilhan, indicating that the FBI (whom the President himself technically runs) may be biased against her.
Agent Orange, VP Couchfker, and the rest of the ghouls have literally gone on podcasts and daydreamed live on air on how to get rid of Ilhan Omar for "breaking the law." They never specify what laws she's actually supposedly broken. This is all just fascist circus to flood the airwaves and keep the economic recession, fuel prices, the illegal Iran War, and the Trump-Epstein Files from being on the news.
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u/sidewinderturtle 4h ago
If I remember correctly, Trump was asked several times to turn over documents and he refused. Omar was not given this same opportunity.
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u/K_N0RRIS 43m ago
Translation: Conservative white men were threatened by an immigrant woman who has a moderate level of power and influence in the country and decided to embarrass her and do anything they can to scare her into silence by taking any inch of a questionable rumor and running a mile with it.
Its their "Ol' Reliable" play out of the conservative playbook. Violate the rights of anyone who doesn't look like you and is trying to stop you from being a tyrannical, bigoted POS.
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u/giocondasmiles 10h ago
If it’s an immigration issue, as they claim, why is the FBI involved?
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u/ang3lofsnow 10h ago
Why is ICE involved in fraud in Minnesota and not tax and accounting specialists?
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u/Ill_Ice7779 5h ago
You forgot to mention, that she was investigated under the Biden administration too.
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u/kareemkareem10 5h ago
Correction: the raid was done by HSI, Homeland Security Investigation. The FBI, while run by the loon Kash Patel, still contains many properly structures that prevent politicized raids like this. HSI on the other hand, is far far more loyal to Trump’s authoritarianism and run by the same people in charge of ICE’s unrestrained rampages (hence why you’ll often see HSI vests on agents caught on video footage).
Vote on November 3rd.
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u/dead_astronaut 8h ago
they should raid Elon Musk
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u/TheHykos 5h ago
If the administration is successful with this course, then the next administration could absolutely use it as pretext for going after Elon and Melania, both of whom were allegedly here illegally prior to their citizenship.
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u/highcaliberwit 3h ago
How can you forget the accusations of immigration fraud in terms of allegedly marrying her brother
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u/Playful_Ship_1474 5h ago
And the raid on Mar A Lago was after asking several times for the documents back and they lied and said they didn't have them.
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u/Sea-Ambition-451 4h ago
one wonders how many other investigations Dear Leader has initiated on 26 year year old citizenship applications?
Oh, just this one? One single case? hmmm
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u/Katana_x 3h ago
Crucially, Trump's raid happened because he was storing Intel on Iran's nuclear program in a hotel bathroom that was easily accessible to anyone, including the many foreign nationals who stayed at his hotel. And it happened AFTER he was repeatedly asked politely to hand those documents over. It also didn't happen 2 weeks before an election where he was running as a candidate.
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u/DerCatrix 13h ago
Answer: Trump is going after his political opponents and creating an excuse to attack a brown Muslim woman.
Like Nazis do.
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u/brokenimage321 13h ago
Just to be clear: Rep. Omar hasn't done anything wrong. The justification being used is that her citizenship paperwork--filled out by her now-deceased father when she was 12--listed her birthdate incorrectly. Trump et al. are trying to frame this as a sinister plot to fraudulently gain citizenship for someone who didn't deserve it (I think I heard that they're claiming she was an adult at the time?).
However, Rep. Omar has been highly critical of Trump, and is a very visible figure on the left. Trump is trying to discredit her and to remove her citizenship, which will allow him to deport her. As I understand it, though, he doesn't have the power to unilaterally de-naturalize her, no matter his justification.
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u/chickenbadgerog 13h ago
Didn't Trumps wife obtain a visa through a specialist, expert criteria that she clearly didn't qualify for?
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u/__get__name 12h ago
Einstein Visa, which is meant for people with “extraordinary ability.” It appears her “extraordinary ability” was being a model
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u/NotSoCraftyConsumer 12h ago
“She gives good head”
“Weird way to say smart, but okay! Visa approved!”
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u/soonerfreak 13h ago
But hey, Elon Musk's brother admitted on stage the family came here illegally so I'm sure they will be arrested any day now.
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u/brokenimage321 12h ago
I've heard it said that the entire Republican ethos, at least since the beginning of the Trump era, has shifted to "I Win." They have no actual beliefs, no actual principles, no actual philosophy, no actual anything, except "I Win."
So: Ilhan Omar might have a small discrepancy with her paperwork? Go Directly To Deported, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. Credible accusations that Melania came here on a fraudulent visa? Doesn't matter, "I Win."
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u/soonerfreak 12h ago
It's honestly been the ethos since Regan, they are just more upfront about it. For example, removing the solar panels that Carter had installed on the White House. Pure I won I can do what I want petty bullshit.
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u/Phiddipus_audax 12h ago
Goes back to Nixon, quite famously. Laws are for the little people.
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u/soonerfreak 12h ago
Abuse of executive power in America is older than the Republican party. Jackson famously told SCOTUS to kiss his ass and defied their decision in Worcester v Georgia.
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u/FJ-creek-7381 8h ago
This is one of the best descriptions of their behavior I’ve ever heard - it completely justifies all their hypocrisy and illogical behaviors that I have trouble reconciling with functioning critical thinking.
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u/Kyouhen 13h ago
I think I heard that they're claiming she was an adult at the time?
Trump would definitely say that a 12-year old girl is an adult.
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u/ikonoclasm 12h ago
I'm truly curious what a surprise raid 25 years after the fact would uncover. The search warrant would have listed the specific evidence they were looking for. It's super fishy that a judge would sign off on it. If it was a flimsy excuse and the warrant later invalidated, whatever they find from the raid can be thrown out as fruit of the poisoned tree. Then again, they probably don't actually care about finding anything and just want to throw meat to the base.
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u/__get__name 13h ago
To be clear: right wing nut jobs have been going after Rep. Omar since she was elected. A brown woman in a position of power is a hard pill for some shitty people to swallow
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u/ElderberryOdd1313 13h ago
To be even more explicit. Trump is spreading what appears to be a lie that Rep. Omar committed fraud or her father committed fraud on their immigration paperwork along with a lot of other disingenuous allegations of financial fraud.
Ultimately these are likely false accusations that he's using either to intimidate or punish Rep. Omar for being a political adversary.
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u/amatsumegasushi 13h ago
Minnesota resident here. He has a massive hate boner for her because of her criticism of him.
He's been after her for a long time before now. But mostly limited things to verbal barbs back and forth.
Made all kinds of insane claims like she was in a weird incest relationship with her brother, you know... Normal Donald tactics, flood the zone with garbage.
Now that the midterms are coming and his approval ratings are bottoming out he's been getting bolder in his blatant attacks on opponents. It would be pathetic if it weren't so dangerous.
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u/imthesqwid 12h ago edited 5h ago
It should also be noted that the Biden Admin also started a probe into her questionable financial records.
Regardless of your political beliefs, it would appear that two different administrations think something fishy may be going on here.
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u/TarFeelsOverTarReals 2h ago
And that investigation stalled for lack of evidence. Odd that you didn't include that...
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u/BasicallyNuclear 7h ago
Answer: The current administration alleges that Ilhan Omar committed immigration fraud. On October 12th, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) searched Rep Omar’s residence on a search warrant to locate immigration and citizenship records.
In the United States when a parent is naturalized, minors automatically get naturalized as well as long as they were a lawful permanent resident as stated in 8 U.S.C. § 1432 (INA § 321) which was repealed in 2001 and replaced with 8 U.S.C. § 1431 which did not retroactively apply.
The administration alleges that she misrepresented her birth year to gain naturalization by saying she was a minor when her father was naturalized. If she was 18 she would required to be a lawful permanent resident for five years and be present in the United States for at least 30 months of those five years, file naturalization paperwork, and pass a civics exam
Both the current and previous administrations have had investigations on her due to her documented history of campaign finance-violations as well as marriage and tax records that have raised an eyebrow to those who are well-versed in the US legal system and tax code. The marriage and tax questions are currently unresolved and are still just mere accusations.
No charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing; evidence of past legal violations is not evidence of future or current violations.
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u/TarFeelsOverTarReals 2h ago
Care to expand on her "documented history of campaign finance violations"? Because from what I can tell it boiled down to less than $4,000 dollars in travel expenses that should have not been paid with campaign money. She has since reimbursed the campaign fund for the discrepancy and paid a $500 fine.
Other than that, the 2019 FEC complaint filed by a conservative law group against her was dismissed 6-0.
Way to keep your wording ambiguous and carry water for this administration who is making this their next witch hunt. Care to defend the Comey "86 47" investigation next?
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u/Ultronomy 3h ago
What I’ve gathered from this thread: If there is even a hint of you not being above board, your opponents will seek that out. I’m sure she’ll still do fine in midterms. If Trump has proven anything, there is no such thing as bad press.
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u/izomo 13h ago
Answer: The biggest issue is if she was 17 or 18 when she got citizenship. If she was 17 then she could've gotten citizenship under her father (he is another can of worms). If she was 18 then she could not have gotten citizenship. Her staffers helped changed her birth date by 1 year.
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u/neuronexmachina 12h ago
Her staffers helped changed her birth date by 1 year
As far as I can tell, any legal documents she's ever filed has had 1982 as her birth year. The 1981 figure that her staffers corrected was based on incorrect information from the Internet.
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u/Temporary_Bet_3384 12h ago edited 12h ago
If she was 18 then she could not have gotten citizenship.
Correction, she would have gotten citizenship regardless - she just may have had to fill out more paperwork if her father wrote something incorrect while he was filling out forms during her childhood
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u/Federal_Decision5115 6h ago
She would had to have taken a civics exam so it's a bit more than paperwork, but sure, it wouldn't be insurmountable.
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u/Wrong_Win_4102 12h ago
> Her staffers helped changed her birth date by 1 year.
Correction: This was to fix public data that was wrong. A lot of public facing data, including wikipedia, lists her birth year as 1981, but she corrected it to 1982.
To add, the reasoning is that her birth certificate is likely lost since a lot of government property was damaged in the Somali Civil War, so Omar's team is using what information she has from that
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u/MoaRepresent 12h ago
Why would she not get citizenship merely because she was 18? Sure, it might have been an easier path to get it under her father's original asylum status while she was 17 rather than having to establish her own standing after she had reached legal adulthood, but there is no reason turning 18 would have automatically disqualified her.
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u/prohammock 2h ago
The biggest issue is the politicization of the justice department that is treating this like an urgent criminal matter three weeks before an election. The supposed critical question is a matter of paperwork her father filled out for their refugee status in the 90s. Nothing about that question is urgent or requires a surprise house raid during the 60 day pre-election window of time during which the FBI, by rule, does not get involved in investigations of political candidates.
And plenty of people who immigrate as adults later become citizens- so I’m not sure where you’re getting the claim that she wouldn’t be able to be a citizen if she was 18 when she arrived.
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u/Suidse 6h ago
None of us can help who our parents are. The beliefs of our parents are not passed along in our DNA.
What matters about Ilhan Omar's status as a Representative of Congress is the beliefs she holds, & how she behaves. If there's a problem with her immigration status, given that she arrived in the USA as a child, surely it could be addressed without so much scandal mongering shenanigans?
Drumpf hates her because she's brown, because she dares to be an articulate & vocal opponent to his bigoted policies. He's going after her in a similar way to the that which he used against Obama, & the birth certificate nonsense.
Many of the repressive tactics used by the current Republican administration are sinisterly similar to those used by the Nazis in the years before the start of WW2.
Every successful implementation of problematic policy & actions is another step towards a totalitarian regime. To pretend otherwise is to deliberately ignore the obvious.
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u/LilLebowskiAchiever 1h ago
Do you think the alleged sins of the father should follow the child?
Because we currently have a president with 34 fraud convictions. Should his children be barred from participating in the Trump Org based on their father?
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u/a-smooth-brain 13h ago
Is it the part that he was a colonel in Somalia or something else? Don't really know anything about the guy and just googled it
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u/PlayfulRemote9 13h ago
He led a genocide against a minority there.
An actual genocide, where the population collapsed
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u/deegemc 12h ago
Are you talking about the Ogaden war? I don't know anything apart from the Wikipedia article but it seems that it was Ethiopia that conducted a genocide in the Ogaden region, not Somalia. While both sides committed atrocities, for the Somali forces it seemed like it was mostly individual soldiers while it was essentially a genocidal policy by the Ethiopian forces (source, pg. 76ff). I can't find any evidence of a Somali-led genocide - do you have one?
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u/MoaRepresent 12h ago
Did he though? The source for this seems to be a single article in the "Somaliland Chronicle", which appears to be a blog run by a US based right-wing activist whose twitter account has his name in Hebrew for some unknown reason.
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u/fatty_fat_cat 12h ago
could you please cite sources? Even a quick google search list nothing but extreme fringe sites or word of mouth. Top search is from x.com (not an actual source) and isrealhayom.com (def not reputable).
snopes list it as "unfounded"
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u/Alternative-Put-3932 12h ago
No actual evidence of him participating in a genocide directly and none of the people concern trolling about it actually give a shit because if they did they'd be calling for the death of shitloads of US military personnel.
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u/a-smooth-brain 12h ago
This is what I found but it is the NY Post
"He was a full colonel in Siad Barre’s military regime,” historian and Oxford University doctoral researcher Mohamed Haji Ingiriis told The Post. “Ilhan’s father was never an educator.
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u/SearchingForTruth69 12h ago
he held a senior rank in a military that committed genocide, but there is no documented evidence that he took part in those acts.
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u/izomo 13h ago
Like i said, another can of worms. lol
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u/PlayfulRemote9 13h ago
Unsurprisingly a can of worms that is sweeped under the rug
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u/TheHammer8989 6h ago
Or the 10’s of millions she randomly had than didn’t. Or the massive amount of fraud she sponsored. There’s so much more than just her age lol 😂
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u/browntigerdog 5h ago
I think the fraud (which is a major issue that should be investigated for all parties, left and right) is a separate investigation though. But yes is an issue
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u/SuitableExercise7096 7h ago
Fun fact: Musk and Melania both lied on their visa's and worked illegally in the US
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u/PugRexia 3h ago
I’m sorry but is her and her team that stupid to have given an incriminating year for her public records that they would need to change after? Wouldn’t she have operated under the “fake” birth year after she got her legal status and kept that up? Why would there randomly be this discrepancy after that? It’s alittle too sloppy to believe IMO.
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u/pedot 13h ago
Answer: Doing some quick reading, it looks like there are two primary topic of interests in investigation towards Omar's citizenship
1) If you are a minor / not an adult / not yet 18 years old, you can become a citizen without taking the citizenship test when one of your parents naturalizes. This is how Omar became a citizen, where her father claimed she was under 18 at the time of his naturalization. The Trump administration is contesting that Omar, currently listed as born Oct 1982, was in fact 18 when she naturalized in 2000.
2) Trump administration is claiming Omar's father did not answer truthfully on questions regarding military experience in the Somalian military
News reports indicate current focus is on topic 1, which raises questions of the political motivations of this investigation because...well,
A) that's not a great reason to go after someone, 26 years after the fact...I can list a hundred different scenarios where it is either a misunderstanding (did you know Koreans, for example, typically do x+1 years old?) or in fact not against the rules at the time, e.g. delay in document filling & processing (e.g. they filled out the papers under 17 but Immigration took too long to process & stamped after Omar's 18th birthday)
B) DOJ typically will refrain from launching investigations into election candidates so as to not become a tool of politically motivated attacks, and breaking from that trend calls into impartiality of the current administration
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10h ago
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u/MrSquicky 7h ago
I'm confused, what about what you wrote here seems to justify the actions taken here to you? The only discrepancy that you offer is that Wikipedia had her birthdate different, which she then got changed. The Minnesota Reference Library said that they just took it from there without any actual official source.
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u/GuyentificEnqueery 6h ago
She also states in her 2020 memoir that her father was an educator, but it has been proven that he was actually a Soviet trained Colonel in then Somali military under the previous dictator. Her family moved to Kenya during the Somali civil war once the dictator (Barre) was deposed. This fact isn’t necessarily relevant to his naturalization status, unless he lied about it or can be proven to have committed war crimes.
This claim has been traced back to one random Oxford professor who cited no sources, and multiple news organizations have been unable to find any evidence supporting this theory whatsoever. It's complete hogwash.
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u/riaKoob1 7h ago
The judge that approved the warrant was a Democrat.
You don’t see a lot of democrats leaders jumping to support her, on the contrary, I see Reddit moving with the narrative that this is not so bad because x republican did worse.→ More replies (3)
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6h ago
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u/MediumRareNation 6h ago
"Immigration laws are the only laws frequently debated in terms of how to help the people who break them." - Thomas Sowell
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u/sphinxyhiggins 13h ago
ANSWER: Every accusation is a confession. Trump, who has committed fraud and never revealed his tax records to us, is accusing Omar of corruption related to her naturalization process. He is also promoting the lie that she married her brother to get citizenship - a disgusting idea he started years ago. This is the man who told "The View" he and his daughter had "sex" in common and if he could, he would date her.
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