Yahoo

Obama-era investigation finds evidence against Ilhan Omar's marriage, report says

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images) Federal investigators found evidence during the Obama administration suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar's 2009 marriage to a man suspected of being her brother was intended to help him obtain a green card, but the case stalled chiefly because prosecutors concluded the suspected offense fell outside a five-year statute of limitations, according to a new report. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigated the marriage in the summer of 2016, current and former officials told The New York Times in a report published Thursday. The officials' account challenges Omar's characterization of the earlier inquiry as having debunked allegations that she married her brother to help him obtain a green card. The newspaper said it remains unclear what evidence investigators had establishing that Omar and her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, are siblings. Marrying a person to help them obtain a green card is illegal under federal law, while marrying a sibling is illegal under state law. However, the newspaper noted that it remains unclear whether federal prosecutors could pursue charges against Omar despite the statute of limitations for marriage-based immigration fraud. Omar has repeatedly denied the allegations about her and her ex-husband. Rep. Omar has repeatedly and unequivocally denied this baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory, spokeswoman Jackie Rogers said in a statement. This is a desperate political smear designed to distract from Trump's failed presidency and two years of Republican failure in Congress. Six current and former officials familiar with the 2016 investigation told the Times that agents found evidence suggesting Omar and Elmi were siblings. The officials said investigators had limited tools to develop the case because prosecutors did not pursue it. Omar was already a U.S. citizen when she married Elmi, a British citizen, in 2009. They divorced in 2017. Two former officials said Elmi obtained a conditional two-year green card through the marriage. When immigration authorities requested additional evidence before granting him permanent status without conditions, he left the United States and abandoned his petition, they said. The earlier inquiry involved an FBI agent specializing in public corruption and civil rights cases and two Homeland Security Investigations agents, according to the report. The allegations surfaced publicly in 2016 as Omar campaigned for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives. After a local television station reported that the U.S. attorney's office had opened an investigation, her campaign sought a letter from Andrew Luger, then the U.S. attorney for Minnesota. In the Aug. 22, 2016, letter, Luger wrote that my office is not investigating, nor have we requested an investigation into Ms. Omar. Omar portrayed the letter as an exoneration that put to rest flat-out falsehoods. Luger, however, told the Times last week that the letter was never meant to say anything about the substance of the claims. He said it was intended only to rebut an erroneous report that he had asked ICE to investigate Omar. Luger said federal agents could have been pursuing the matter without his knowledge and denied shielding Omar from scrutiny. The Trump administration has reopened scrutiny of the marriage as part of a broader investigation into the Omar family's immigration history. Federal agents searched the congresswoman's Washington home Oct. 12, weeks before she seeks a fifth term in the House. Investigators are also examining whether Omar's late father submitted false or incomplete information during the immigration process and whether Omar was too old to qualify for citizenship through him in 2000, the Times reported. Democrats have condemned the inquiry as political persecution and said the search violated Justice Department policy intended to prevent investigative actions from influencing elections. President Donald Trump repeated the allegation that Omar married her brother last week. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said the broader investigation could lead to Omar's deportation if authorities establish that she should not have been admitted to the country. 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.This article originally appeared on Newsmax at https://www.newsmax.com/us/ilhan-omar-obama-administration-immigration/2026/10/29/id/1274443