Trump administration seeks to strip Ilhan Omar of US citizenship: WSJ

Investigators have subpoenaed relatives and examined immigration records, the newspaper reports.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is investigating Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to revoke her citizenship and eventually deport her, The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing US officials and people familiar with the investigation.

Omar’s office rejected the investigation as baseless in remarks to the Journal.

The search came just weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, a crucial vote for Republicans vying to retain control of Congress. Omar is seeking a fifth term representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district.

Agents took Omar’s passport, mobile phone, personal computers and notebooks, according to people familiar with the search, the newspaper said.

At issue in the citizenship inquiry is whether Omar or her late father altered her age in immigration paperwork to indicate that she was 17 rather than 18 when her father applied for citizenship, the Journal reported.

Omar’s father died in 2020, complicating efforts to collect evidence on whether Omar lied about her own age – which, according to a former top immigration official in the Justice Department, the Trump administration would hinge its case on – or whether her father lied on her behalf.

The newspaper did not report that anyone had filed a lawsuit seeking to revoke Omar’s citizenship. Such a case would require court proceedings, as the investigation itself does not revoke her citizenship or authorise her deportation.

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), part of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), searched Omar’s home under what the department called a “judicially authorized search warrant”.

Omar, a prominent progressive Democrat, has faced years of attacks from Trump and his allies over her Somali background and immigration history.