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Ilhan Omar detailed the early-morning search of her Washington-area home during an interview with MS NOW, recounting how agents pounded on the front and back doors at 6 a.m. on October 12 while she, her husband and their 20-year-old son were asleep after her late return from travel. According to the Minnesota Democrat, between 10 and 25 Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a judicially authorized warrant and spent four to five hours going room by room through the residence. Omar told host Chris Hayes that the timing seemed calculated to unsettle the family, who initially feared an emergency such as a fire, and that agents ultimately seized 17 items including several phones, notebooks, a vintage camera and a Somali children’s phrase book her husband had been using.
The congresswoman said she can no longer safely remain at the property because her address is publicly available and she receives persistent death threats that have intensified since the raid. “Obviously, I can’t continue to live there,” Omar stated in the interview, adding that the situation had become untenable for her children when they visit. Newsweek reported that the lawmaker is now weighing where to relocate as a result of the safety concerns tied to the publicity around the search.
Omar has characterized the operation as the latest escalation in a years-long feud with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly targeted her with insults about her Somali heritage, Muslim faith and character. A Reuters account of the raid noted that it forms part of an ongoing federal investigation into alleged immigration fraud involving paperwork completed by her late father when she arrived in the United States as a child refugee. The Guardian reported that Trump most recently called her “a sick, very dishonest person who hates our country” just days before the search, while Omar maintains she has a legal right to serve in Congress and has done nothing wrong.
Federal authorities issued grand jury subpoenas to some of Omar’s relatives as part of the probe, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke to The Independent on condition of anonymity. The Justice Department confirmed in a statement that Homeland Security Investigations had carried out the court-approved warrant as part of a continuing criminal inquiry, though it provided no further specifics. Omar declined to sign a document waiving certain constitutional protections afforded to members of Congress when agents presented it during the search, describing the request as obnoxious.
The congresswoman noted that while the agents were intrusive they conducted themselves politely overall, even folding some unfolded clothing as they restored the home to order after the hours-long operation. She expressed surprise at the volume of items taken, many of them older phones and notebooks, and said the experience left her family shaken. In a separate account to NBC News, Omar reiterated that the raid had made continued residence at the address unfeasible given the volume of threats she faces.
Democrats have condemned the timing of the search, which occurred just weeks before the November 3 midterm elections in which Omar is heavily favored to win reelection in her Minneapolis district. Multiple outlets including Fox News reported criticism from figures such as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, who called the action an abuse of power aimed at a political opponent. The Washington Post previously reported that a similar review of Omar’s immigration records during Trump’s first term found no evidence of fraud, a detail referenced in coverage of the current investigation by The Daily Beast.
