House Whip Tom Emmer Says Ilhan Omar Should Face Prison and Deportation If the Citizenship Probe Proves She Lied
The Minnesota Republican points to the judge-approved search warrant as proof the investigation is not just politics; Omar and Democratic leaders call it persecution.
The top House Republican from Minnesota says Rep. Ilhan Omar should be punished if investigators show she lied to get her U.S. citizenship.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said "there have been rumors for years" about Omar. If the allegations are proven, he said, she should "probably serve time" and then be sent out of the country.
What is being investigated: Fox reports federal authorities are looking at whether Omar or her father lied about her birth year on immigration paperwork when the family came from Somalia in the late 1990s. Her father became a citizen in 2000. Omar was believed to be 17 then, which made her eligible for citizenship automatically through him. Recently, it has been alleged she was actually 18, in which case she would have had to apply on her own. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations searched her Washington, D.C., home earlier this week and took her phone and other items.
Omar's side: She wrote on X that the raid is "an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his deputies called it "deeply disturbing" and a sign of "corrupt weaponization" of the government against the president's adversaries. Fox says it asked her office for comment.
Emmer rejected the political motive. A judge had to find probable cause that a federal crime was committed before signing the warrant, he said, and "as long as it was Ilhan Omar, it was going to be scrutinized to the very detail." In his words, "maybe after all these years, someone is finally going to hold Ilhan Omar accountable."
A few points worth keeping straight. Nobody has been charged. The allegations are unproven, and Omar denies wrongdoing. Emmer's comments are conditional: he said consequences should follow only if the probe finds she lied. And the raid comes under three weeks before the Nov. 3 election, which is why Democrats say the timing is political and Republicans say the warrant speaks for itself.