When U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents raided the DC home of far-left Islamist and Democrat U.S. House Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota last Monday, they came armed with a judicial warrant.
Omar’s fellow leftists shrieked that the raid amounted to political revenge from President Trump. We do not know yet the facts contained in the agents’ affidavit that goes with any warrant, but we certainly know enough to say this: These leftists’ accusation is laughable.
The more likely scenario is Omar and many others will receive a Christmas present in the form of federal indictments.
FEDERAL AGENTS RAID ILHAN OMAR’S DC HOME AMID IMMIGRATION FRAUD INVESTIGATION
The Fourth Amendment bars judges from issuing a warrant without probable cause. U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh of the District of Columbia, the DC duty judge when the Omar raid occurred, reportedly signed the warrant for Omar’s home. That means Judge Sharbaugh found probable cause evidence of at least one federal crime is inside Omar’s home.
Supreme Court precedents like United States v. Leon (1984) require that an issuing judge must be neutral and detached. If anything, Judge Sharbaugh’s record suggests a judge predisposed to rule against the Trump Justice Department, not for it. Before becoming a judge, Sharbaugh donated to Hillary Clinton during her losing 2016 campaign against President Trump. Sharbaugh clerked twice for Judge Robert Wilkins, a leftist appointee of President Obama, on both the D.C. U.S. District Court and the D.C. U.S. Circuit. Judge Wilkins was one of the three D.C. U.S. circuit judges rammed through by former Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the end of 2013 just before Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate.
Omar’s leftist allies in Congress claimed that President Trump is targeting Omar because of the upcoming midterms. Those allies include U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
So which is it, exactly? Are these leftists accusing Judge Sharbaugh of joining the conspiracy? Are they claiming he isn’t neutral, and that he harbors prejudice against Omar?
If so, the charge is ridiculous. According to all evidence, Judge Sharbaugh is no puppet of the Trump administration. The DC U.S. district judges who appointed him as a magistrate judge in October 2024 are overwhelmingly leftists–overwhelmingly Obama and Biden appointees.
In reality, the truth is far more devastating for Democrats. Judge Sharbaugh’s almost certain signature on that warrant shows beyond any reasonable doubt that this matter is serious and based in evidence. This is no political hit job.
FEDERAL AGENTS SEIZE PHONE OF REP ILHAN OMAR IN RAID TIED TO IMMIGRATION FRAUD PROBE
The government has probable cause concerning at least one federal crime. We are unsure what the crime is, because the affidavit remains sealed. But The New York Times reports that members of Omar’s family have received subpoenas.
Perhaps the crime entails immigration fraud.
ILHAN OMAR SHOULD BE JAILED, DEPORTED IF CITIZENSHIP FRAUD PROVEN, TOP HOUSE REPUBLICAN SAYS
Omar claims she was 17 when she purportedly became an American citizen through a process called derivative naturalization. Her father sought and purportedly obtained citizenship. Under our immigration law, that made his minor children eligible for citizenship as well.
But two issues call into question Omar’s citizenship status.
First, some allege that her father was a Somali warlord, who never should have received citizenship in the first place. In other words, he allegedly lied to obtain it. Moreover, no one seems to be able to find any official record of his citizenship.
Second, Omar’s staff surreptitiously changed the date of birth on her biography in 2019, according to the Library of Congress. Indeed, as the Washington Post recently reported:
ILHAN OMAR’S HUSBAND INSISTS HE HAS ‘NO CONCERNS’ AMID FEDERAL IMMIGRATION INVESTIGATION
“The library told The Washington Post on Tuesday that Omar’s staff had sought that change, saying at the time that it was in the process of correcting Omar’s birth year in various public sources.”
Under the original, pre-2019-changed birth date, Omar would have been 18 years old when she became a citizen. That would have made her ineligible for derivative naturalization through her father.
ILHAN OMAR RAID SPARKS OMINOUS PREDICTION FROM WATCHDOG: ‘THEY PROBABLY GOT THE GOODS’
Article I, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires seven years of citizenship to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. But based on these allegations, Omar may have obtained citizenship fraudulently. In other words, she may have never been a legitimate citizen and therefore never eligible to serve in Congress.
In addition to the DOJ and DHS investigations, the U.S. House of Representatives must investigate this immediately. If Omar isn’t a U.S. citizen, the House must expel her.
Federal law provides a process for denaturalizing those who engaged in fraud to procure their citizenship. No statute of limitations stops the government from pursuing denaturalization in a civil process. Just ask the former Nazis, who came to the United States claiming to be “refugees.” Decades later, the government sought and won their denaturalizations, because they had lied on their paperwork to procure citizenship.
We have done it before, and we can do it again.
There is also more. Another possible crime is Omar’s 2009 marriage to a man who is allegedly her brother. Omar was (possible fraud aside) a nominal American citizen at the time, so marrying her eased her alleged brother’s own pathway to citizenship.
That alleged conspiracy would be blatant immigration fraud. Omar and her alleged brother, who perhaps was one of the subpoenaed family members, could face prison time for such a scheme. Her alleged brother could also face denaturalization proceedings on the basis that he too allegedly obtained his citizenship through fraud.
Yet another possibility of criminal conduct is Omar’s recent financial disclosures, which every Member of Congress must file.
One year, Omar disclosed modest assets. The next year, she and her second (non-brother) husband disclosed approximately $30 million—about 13,000 times what she had disclosed the year before. Then, after getting exposed, she amended her disclosure and indicated modest assets again. Omar refused to give any explanation. Perhaps the government is seeking documentation to corroborate its reasonable suspicion of financial malfeasance. RICO charges against Omar and many others involved in potential fraudulent activities related to Minnesota food assistance and other welfare programs are certainly foreseeable.
The claim that the government targeted Omar to influence the upcoming election, or because of her virulent rhetoric against President Trump and the country that generously gave her a refuge from war-torn Somalia is absurd. Judge Sharbaugh, a prior Hillary donor, is plainly a leftist judge. It defies common sense to believe he would go along with such a plan by the Trump White House and Justice Department.
The simplest explanation is this: the federal government has strong evidence of federal crimes–so strong that even a hardcore leftist judge could not overlook it. It is hard to get a judge to order a home raid. This is particularly true against a sitting Member of Congress, who enjoys Speech and Debate Clause immunity under the U.S. Constitution. And this happened three weeks before the midterm elections, by a DC Democrat judge against a leading Democrat politician.
The evidence against Omar–and likely many others–must be overwhelming. Omar would be wise to look out for an indictment before Christmas.