Federal agents executed a pre-dawn search warrant Monday at the Washington, D.C.-area residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat and frequent target of President Donald Trump, as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to a Department of Justice spokesperson.
The DOJ confirmed the operation in a statement, saying Homeland Security Investigations "executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice" as part of "an ongoing federal criminal investigation." Sources tell ABC News that the investigation relates to Omar's immigration paperwork, and CBS News reports that the documents in question date back to Omar's childhood, involving paperwork completed by her late father.
It is not clear whether Omar was at the residence at the time of the search. She has not been charged with any crime and has denied any wrongdoing. Her office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The reaction was immediate and loud. The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) wrote at 12:49 p.m. ET that federal agents "raided the Washington, DC-area residence of far-left Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) early Monday morning," calling it a "pre-dawn raid" tied to an ongoing criminal investigation. The post, attributed to Fox News Digital, set the tone for conservative coverage that framed the search as a long-overdue development.
ABC News (@ABC) began rolling out alerts shortly before 1 p.m. ET. "BREAKING: Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C.-area residence was searched early Monday, the Department of Justice said, as part of a criminal investigation," the network posted at 1:00 p.m. ET, adding that sources say the probe relates to her immigration paperwork. A second alert followed at 1:04 p.m., and a third at 1:45 p.m., each carrying the same core details and directing readers to a full report.
In its on-air report, ABC News said a DOJ spokesperson confirmed that Homeland Security Investigators searched the congresswoman's residence and that "sources tell ABC News the investigation is in relation to Omar's immigration paperwork." The network noted that it is "not clear if she was there during the search" and that "she has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime."
CBS News (@CBSNews) added a significant detail at 2:26 p.m. ET, reporting that Omar's home was "the target of a pre-dawn raid by ICE's investigations unit, three sources familiar with the investigation confirmed." According to CBS, Homeland Security Investigations — the criminal investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is leading the probe, with the DOJ assisting. HSI has jurisdiction over federal offenses including immigration document fraud, identity fraud, and immigration benefit fraud, and unlike ICE's deportation-focused operations, HSI special agents conduct criminal investigations and execute federal search warrants.
ABC News also noted that the search comes just twenty-two days before the midterm elections, during which Omar is up for reelection, and that early voting in Minnesota begins later this week. The network observed that in recent history, the Justice Department's practice has been to advise prosecutors not to take any overt investigative steps against members of Congress or candidates within sixty days of an election.
Omar, who was first elected to the House in 2018, is the first Somali-American in Congress. She came to the United States as a refugee when she was a child and has been a U.S. citizen living in the country since she was twelve years old. She represents Minnesota's fifth congressional district.
The congresswoman has been a central political target for the administration and its broader efforts to cast the Somali community as criminal and un-American, according to ABC News. At a rally on Saturday, Trump said of Omar: "How about Ilhan Omar? She comes from Somalia. They don't have a government. They don't have police. All they have is crime and squalor. And she comes into our country, and she says, 'My constitution allows me.' She's talking about our constitution, what they've done to Minnesota, these people from Somalia, what they've done to Minnesota, should never be allowed. And let's see what happens. JD Vance and our people are looking at it very strongly."
In social media posts earlier this year, Trump also said Omar "should be in jail" and "sent" — the post appears to have been cut off. Border czar Tom Homan said in September that there was an "ongoing criminal investigation" into Omar. "I'm confirming that ICE is, yeah — look, I said months ago that there's something that's been reported and needs to be looked at," Homan told Fox News at the time.
The search drew swift reaction from across the political spectrum. Conservative accounts and commentators seized on the news as vindication of long-standing allegations against Omar, while left-leaning voices and civil liberties advocates questioned the timing of the operation and its proximity to the election. The Guardian noted that Trump and key allies have accused Omar of immigration fraud and have called to expel her from the country.
Other coverage of the same subject spread rapidly across major outlets, including reports from The Guardian, which described the search as part of a criminal investigation, and from multiple Washington-based publications that confirmed federal agents searched the home. The story dominated cable news chyrons and social media feeds throughout the afternoon.
Next News Network could not independently verify the claims underlying the investigation or the specifics of the search warrant.
The DOJ's confirmation of the search marks a rare overt investigative step against a sitting member of Congress so close to an election. Legal experts have noted that such actions are typically avoided within sixty days of an election, though the DOJ has not commented on the timing. The investigation remains ongoing, and no charges have been filed.
Omar's office has not issued a public statement on the search. Her whereabouts at the time of the raid remain unclear.
Our Take
The raid on Ilhan Omar's home is a significant development that raises serious questions about the timing and the target. For years, Republicans have alleged that Omar's immigration paperwork was fraudulent, and now the DOJ has apparently taken the extraordinary step of executing a search warrant on her residence just weeks before an election. That is not a routine occurrence, and it should not be treated as one. The American people deserve transparency: if there is evidence of a crime, it should be presented in a court of law, not leaked to the press in the middle of a campaign. At the same time, the left's instant dismissals of the investigation as politically motivated ignore the fact that a federal judge signed off on the warrant. The rule of law applies to everyone, including members of Congress. If Omar is innocent, she should say so clearly and cooperate fully. If she is guilty, she should face the consequences. What we should not accept is a two-tiered justice system where some politicians are protected and others are targeted. The truth will come out, and we will be watching.
