ALSO SEE: US Immigration Authorities Raid Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Home

The search appears to be the type of action that law enforcement officials typically avoided so close to an election in the past.

Federal authorities searched the D.C. home of Rep. Ilhan Omar on Monday morning, three people familiar with the matter said, intensifying long-standing immigration-related accusations from Republicans regarding the nation’s first Somali American lawmaker.

Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, executed the search. The Justice Department confirmed that it secured a court-authorized warrant for a law enforcement action Monday morning, but the agency did not name Omar or confirm what investigation the search was connected to.

“Today in the Washington, D.C. area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the Justice Department statement said.

President Donald Trump, asked about the search, said “I understand they are looking at her very carefully.”

“I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ,” he told reporters at The White House. “I have nothing to do with it.”

Last month, U.S. officials said federal authorities were investigating whether Omar unlawfully entered the country by falsifying her immigration paperwork. Omar (D-Minnesota) and her team have repeatedly denied accusations that she committed immigration fraud.

“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” she wrote on X. “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”

The search of Omar’s home appears to be the type of action that law enforcement officials have typically avoided so close to an election in the past. Omar is up for reelection in November after winning the Democratic primary in her district.

In the 60 days before an election, the Justice Department enters a “blackout” period, during which the agency typically refrains from taking public steps in politically related cases — such as executing a search warrant or indicting someone — that could be perceived as politically motivated and potentially affect the results of the election.

The Justice Department is not legally mandated to follow the 60-day blackout period and has been accused of running afoul of it in the past. In 2016, then-FBI Director James B. Comey was accused of violating the rule in connection with statements he made about the investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was serving as secretary of state.

And in 2024, Trump accused special counsel Jack Smith of violating the blackout period when he submitted evidence to a federal judge less than 60 days before that year’s presidential election describing how Trump allegedly obstructed the 2020 election results. In that instance, Smith and his team of prosecutors were responding to a judge’s deadline and were not opting to take a public law enforcement action.

A government official said Monday that the Justice Department adhered to the 60-day rule in executing the search by first consulting the Public Integrity Section, as required in instances in which the timing of an investigation could be called into question. Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on carrying out the warrant, said the official, who like others in this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

The Trump administration has effectively dismantled the Public Integrity Section and often cuts the office out of politically sensitive investigations.

A senior Trump administration official confirmed that Omar’s residence was raided Monday as part of an investigation into possible criminal immigration fraud. The official said the investigation involved White House deputy homeland security adviser Anthony Salisbury, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow and Blanche.

The investigation, which has accelerated in recent weeks, is viewed as controversial within the administration and some officials have begun referring to it as “World War Eleven,” the senior official said. The phrase seemingly references a statement Omar made at a news conference in 2025. Reading from notes at a lectern, she mistakenly said “World War 11 ... two, sorry.”

A federal prosecutor in the deputy attorney general’s office was overseeing the day-to-day development of the inquiry, a person familiar with the matter said.

Allegations regarding Omar’s immigration history have circulated in conservative circles for years, though federal officials who have promoted the claims have not provided substantiating evidence.

Born in Somalia, Omar fled the country’s civil war with her family when she was a young girl, spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp and immigrated to the United States at age 12 in 1995.

Omar became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000 and was elected to Congress in 2018.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last month said that “something’s going to happen” and that there is an “ongoing investigation.”

Mullin told conservative commentator Benny Johnson, without providing evidence, “There may be more to this, the whole family migration and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with. … If we can prove it that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we’ll deport you.”

Omar and her team have repeatedly denied this accusation.

Asked by Fox News on Sept. 13 whether an investigation of Omar has been opened, White House border czar Tom Homan said that “things are going on,” adding, “Look, I said months ago that it’s something that’s been reported and it needs to be looked at.” But he declined to give specifics.

A DHS spokesperson referred a request to comment to the Justice Department.

On Monday morning, federal law enforcement vehicles and HSI officers lined a block in Northeast Washington where a house associated with Omar is located. Agents wearing “POLICE HSI” jackets went in and out of the house every few minutes, and some removed cardboard boxes from the house. Neighbors milled around, talking about how they learned of the raid.

Omar has faced many personal attacks, including from Trump, who in December called her “garbage” and said she must get “the hell out” of the country. Trump increased direct attacks against the congresswoman as a fraud scandal implicated dozens of Somali Americans in her state, prompting a Trump administration immigration crackdown. Omar was not accused of any wrongdoing in the scandal.

In January, a man used a syringe to spray a liquid at her during a town hall meeting, which authorities later said was apple cider vinegar.

“Every time the president of the United States has chosen to use hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community that I represent, my death threats skyrocket,” Omar said.

On Sept. 24, DHS issued a statement calling on politicians to “stop violent rhetoric against ICE” and included a speech by Omar in which she called for the abolishment of ICE on a list of “some of the most egregious examples of hateful rhetoric.”

Federal immigration law states that criminal immigration charges generally must be brought within five years of the offense. Criminal denaturalizations have a 10-year statute of limitations. Civil immigration proceedings, including civil denaturalizations or efforts to deport someone, are not subject to a statute of limitations.

Critics of the Trump administration’s focus on Omar have noted that she entered the U.S. as a child and naturalized more than 25 years ago, raising questions of why her case is being prioritized.

Trump has repeatedly targeted Somali immigrants, often in harsh and disparaging terms.

“This feels very performative, very targeted to make a larger political point by this administration,” said Kerry Doyle, who worked as an immigration judge at the Justice Department but was removed under Trump as part of a wave of firings.

Doyle cautioned that she had not seen any allegations but called the investigation “extremely unusual.”

U.S. immigration authorities do open denaturalization cases against people related to decades-old actions, but those cases historically have been tied to serious transnational crimes, including war crimes and genocide.

Daniel Delgado, a former immigration policy official at DHS during the Biden administration, said the effort appeared intended to intimidate other immigrants.

“It’s hard to see this as anything other than being politically motivated given how close we are to the midterm elections,” Delgado said.

Several Democratic officials and Minnesota leaders issued statements condemning the search.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) wrote, “We cannot and will not accept this unprecedented abuse of power.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) called it a “deeply disturbing” raid that “raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization” of the government.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote that the action marked a “dangerous escalation of [Trump’s] authoritarian and fundamentally un-American behavior” and was “an extension of his racist attacks on Somali Americans and yet another attempt to throw chaos into our elections.”

Trump administration officials and associates have themselves been entangled in controversies related to immigration issues in the past.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, worked illegally at the start of his U.S. career, The Washington Post reported in 2024, months before Musk joined the Trump administration.

Musk denied wrongdoing at the time.

The Associated Press reported in 2016 that Melania Trump had been paid for modeling jobs two decades earlier, before receiving legal work authorization. An attorney for Melania Trump challenged the report at the time.