The search at dawn

Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations searched Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C. home on 12 October 2026. Omar said agents began pounding on the doors at about 6 a.m. Eastern time while she and her husband were in bed, and she first thought there was a fire. Her estimate of the number of agents varies between accounts: she told the BBC and the Washington Post that between 15 and 25 agents surrounded the house, while the Guardian reported 10 to 15. The Justice Department described the operation as a judicially authorised search warrant tied to an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

What agents took

Omar said agents spent roughly five hours searching the house room by room while she sat on the couch and watched them. They left with 17 items, among them several cellphones, notebooks, a Somali children's book and a camera belonging to her husband. Her lawyers alleged in the days after the search that federal authorities ignored key restrictions a judge had placed on the search, an allegation the Justice Department denies. Omar described the agents as intrusive but polite, and said they catalogued each seized item before leaving the rest of the home in order.

The investigation

Investigators are looking into whether Omar or her father lied on immigration paperwork filed after they arrived in the United States in the 1990s. A person briefed on the inquiry told the Independent that investigators are examining potential fraud in the family's immigration documents and have issued grand jury subpoenas to some relatives. The BBC put the number of subpoenas at more than a dozen. NBC News, citing one person familiar with the matter, reported that charges could include conspiracy and making false statements in her immigration paperwork. The government has not said which crime Omar is accused of, and the Justice Department has released little beyond confirming a criminal investigation.

Omar's account and her move

Omar gave her first interview since the search to MS NOW host Chris Hayes, which aired on Wednesday, 21 October. She said she is confident she did nothing wrong and rejected the immigration fraud allegations. She said rumours about her brother began on a Somali blog before reaching rightwing conspiracy theorists in Minneapolis, and that her public address and the death threats she receives made the house unworkable, so she will move out. Omar said she believes the raid was meant to satisfy Trump supporters.

“You don't show up to somebody's house that early in the morning unless you're trying to freak them out.”

Omar said the search was designed to intimidate her before the 3 November midterm elections, in which she is seeking reelection in a heavily Democratic Minneapolis district.

“I have a legal right to be a member of Congress.”

Political reaction

Former President Barack Obama called the probe "so appalling" in a lengthy statement. Congressional Democrats questioned the timing, given the Justice Department's traditional policy of avoiding high-profile actions involving candidates close to an election. Trump called Omar a sick, very dishonest person who hates the country on Tuesday, 20 October. Asked whether she could face deportation over her immigration paperwork, he replied:

“Well, she could be. She could also go to jail.”

Omar was born in Somalia, came to the United States at 12 in 1995 and became a citizen in 2000. In January 2026 she was sprayed with an unknown substance by an assailant at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis, where she was calling for the abolition of ICE.