Former President Barack Obama has denounced the Trump administration’s investigation into Representative Ilhan Omar for alleged immigration fraud, calling it “appalling.”
In a recent statement on X, Obama wrote that Omar legitimately entered the United States as a minor and that neither she nor her father lied on immigration papers. However, Obama omitted a critical detail: his administration began an investigation in 2016 into whether Omar married her brother to commit immigration fraud. Federal investigators found evidence suggesting Representative Omar and Ahmed Nur Said Elmi were siblings. The probe initially stalled due to the statute of limitations for a potential felony but has been revived by the Trump administration as part of a broader inquiry into the Omar family’s journey from Somalia.
According to sources familiar with the case, U.S. immigration officials issued Elmi a two-year green card based on the marriage. When he sought permanent residency, he abandoned his petition after federal agents requested additional evidence about the marriage’s validity. A Somali community leader in Minneapolis confirmed that Omar married her brother and stated she admitted to “doing what she had to do to get [her brother] ‘papers’ to keep him in the U.S.” The leader also noted that Omar claimed she needed papers for her brother to attend school.
When directly asked about marrying her brother, Omar responded, “not to my knowledge.” Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz has predicted potential denaturalization and deportation for Omar. Additionally, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro recently filed a federal motion related to the Columbus Day raid on Omar’s apartment, seeking more time to unseal search warrant materials.
Another aspect of the probe examines whether Omar’s late father, Nur Omar Mohamed—a former colonel in Somalia—provided false information on immigration forms and whether Omar was too old to qualify for citizenship through her father when she was a minor.
Obama emphasized that “it is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say.” He criticized the Trump administration’s actions as an attempt to intimidate Representative Omar, stating: “The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans.”
Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed a fraud investigator reviewed Omar’s file and found evidence of immigration fraud.