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USA12 October, 20262 min read

Ilhan Omar’s Attorneys Demand Justice Department Return Seized Property After Federal Home Search

This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.

Federal agents from DHS/HSI searched Omar's DC-area home as part of a federal investigation. DOJ says warrant was court-authorized; agents seized Omar's phone and issued subpoenas.

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Africanews English
“Federal authoritiesseized the Democratic lawmaker's phone and have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas”
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“The nature and scope of the investigation were unclear”
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Omar property return demand

Attorneys for Rep. Ilhan Omar asked the Justice Department on Friday to immediately return property federal agents seized from her home this week, arguing the search stemming from an immigration fraud investigation was “neither justified nor lawful.”

Omar’s legal team wrote in a letter first reported by The Wall Street Journal that there is "no legitimate basis for any suggestion that she has violated any law concerning her citizenship status."

A Justice Department spokesperson replied that the letter was “riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies,” and said “Our attorneys and law enforcement partners complied with all court orders and legal obligations, as they always do,” in a text message Friday evening.

Federal authorities seized Omar’s phone in the search and issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, a person briefed on the probe told the AP this week.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin suggested authorities were examining potential crimes related to her family’s immigration paperwork, while U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said “there are several investigations going on” related to Omar.

Reporting for this sectionClickOnDetroit

Citizenship stripping legal hurdles

Legal experts told CNN that the search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, DC, home was an extraordinary legal step taken against a sitting congresswoman facing reelection, and that the government had not yet indicated it would take steps to attempt to strip her citizenship.

Daniel Kanstroom said citizenship has long been considered “a kind of a safe harbor,” and that “It’s hard to get, but once you get it, the standard for the government to take it away is really, really high.”

CNN reported that the Justice Department pushed for an unusually aggressive search while Omar said she believes the administration is ultimately seeking to intimidate her.

CNN also reported that Omar has not been charged with a crime and that the Justice Department has not revealed any evidence against her.

CNN said the search was related to an immigration-fraud probe investigating whether Omar’s father lied about her age when she obtained her citizenship in 2000.

Reporting for this sectionCNN

Judge limits records access

A federal judge restricted how the Justice Department could access records seized from Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home before approving a search warrant, CNN reported this week.

US Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh required prosecutors to create a screening process to protect Omar’s legislative work from investigators, citing constitutional protections for members of Congress under the Speech or Debate Clause.

The restrictions related to the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which shields lawmakers’ legislative activities from certain government scrutiny.

Federal agents searched Omar’s home early on Monday, seizing her phone, notebooks, personal computers and passport, and authorities issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives.

Omar denounced the raid and investigation on Wednesday as “political harassment” by Trump’s administration, and she said the search came amid heightened scrutiny of the Justice Department’s handling of a case involving a prominent Trump critic.

Reporting for this sectionArab News