Ilhan Omar says 17 items were seized from her home in raid ‘designed to freak her out’

WASHINGTON, DC: Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is breaking her silence about the unsettling ordeal she endured when federal agents seized 17 items from her home in a raid she described as “designed to freak her out”.

Omar’s Washington, DC, residence was raided by Homeland Security last week as “part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.” She is the first Somali American woman to serve in Congress.

According to reports, the “judicially authorized search warrant” executed by federal agents listed potential violations involving immigration fraud, false statements in immigration proceedings and conspiracy.

People familiar with the probe told CNN that investigators are scrutinizing whether Omar or her late father provided false information about her age during the citizenship process.

Omar arrived in the US in March 1995, aged 12, after fleeing Somalia’s civil war and spending four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. She became a naturalized American citizen in 2000, at the age of 17.

Ilhan Omar recounts five-hour federal raid on her home

In her first interview since federal agents searched her home as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, Minnesota Democrat told MS NOW’s Chris Hayes on Wednesday, October 21, that she had returned from a trip and slept for just two and a half hours before agents woke her on October 12 by “pounding on the doors.”

When her husband answered the door, Omar said the agents presented him with a search warrant and asked her to sign a document waiving the constitutional protections afforded to her as a member of Congress.

She refused, calling the request “obnoxious” and questioning why the agents thought she would agree.

The raid lasted four to five hours and involved as many as 25 agents, according to Omar. She said the agents “mostly decently conducted themselves” while searching the home for items covered by the warrant.

Among the items seized were her phone, an older phone, her youngest daughter’s old phone, her husband’s notebooks and a camera he had received from his uncle.

Agents also took a Somali phrasebook for children that her husband had been using to learn the language.

Omar said she was “surprised” when agents handed her a receipt listing the seized belongings. “To walk away with 17 items of, like, 10 that were just notebooks and like old phones was such a bizarre, bizarre thing,” she said.

Although Omar said she takes the investigation “seriously,” she expressed doubt that federal prosecutors could build a case against her.

She questioned the suggestion that she could have conspired to mislead immigration officials when she was 12 years old, describing the allegation as a significant leap.

Trump says Ilhan Omar could face jail time

President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Ilhan Omar over her character, faith and Somali heritage.

Most recently, on Tuesday, he called her a “sick, very dishonest person who hates our country” while answering reporters’ questions at the White House.

Asked whether Omar could face deportation over alleged misstatements in her immigration paperwork, 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,” he continued.

Trump did not cite a specific criminal charge or provide new evidence against the Minnesota congresswoman during the exchange. He prefaced his remarks by saying, “This is just my opinion,” before describing Omar as “a very dishonest person” who “hates our country.”

His comments followed remarks by border czar Tom Homan, who said Omar could lose her US citizenship and face deportation if investigators establish that she committed immigration fraud.

“If you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody. We’ve done it before,” Homan said, adding that such action could be taken if the evidence supports it.

Federal agents searched Omar’s Washington, DC, home on October 12, seizing her cellphone and other belongings as part of an ongoing investigation.