US President Donald Trump has said that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, could face prison as well as deportation as federal authorities investigate questions surrounding her immigration records.
Asked at the Oval Office whether Omar could be deported if there is a problem with her age, Trump said: “Well, she could be. She could also go to jail.”
“You know, they keep talking about deportation. No, she could go to jail. This is just my opinion,” he said.
Trump called Omar “a disgrace to our country” and accused her of hating the US, while making derogatory remarks about Somalia, her country of birth.
“This is just my opinion — I think she’s a sick, a very dishonest person who hates our country,” he said.
“And she comes from a country that is essentially not even a country. Somalia. It’s a real s***house, OK?”
The remarks came during an event announcing a fraud-tip incentive programme and follow a recent federal search of Omar’s Washington home.
Homeland Security investigators executed a search warrant as part of an immigration-related inquiry.
Federal agents searched Representative Omar’s house earlier this month in an immigration fraud probe targeting the congresswoman over possible false statements made on government documents and a potential conspiracy.
Homeland Security agents seized her phone, laptops, notebooks, and passport.
Investigators are examining whether Omar or her late father lied about her age when she obtained citizenship in 2000.
Omar denied the accusations, saying she came to the US at age 12 in 1995 and gained citizenship at 17.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is seeking to revoke her citizenship and eventually deport her.
Federal investigators questioned Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, after searching Omar’s Washington, DS home as part of an immigration fraud probe.
Omar condemned the raid as politically motivated.
“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponise federal law enforcement,” she wrote on X. “This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
Omar, the US’ first Somali American member of Congress, has served in the US House of Representatives since 2019.
To strip citizenship, the Justice Department must file a federal lawsuit proving material fraud.
This comes after the New York Post reported that US federal prosecutors are reportedly considering using DNA evidence to support allegations of immigration fraud against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as part of a broader investigation into the congresswoman.
One source said the DNA evidence was critical to proving an allegation that Omar married her brother when she wed Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009 because she was trying to help him get a green card, which never came to fruition.