President Donald Trump has revived long-standing allegations against Rep. Ilhan Omar, claiming in a new Politico interview that the Minnesota Democrat married her brother to commit immigration fraud. Trump made the remarks after Omar criticized recent ICE operations targeting Somali nationals in Minneapolis. He connected the enforcement actions to a major $1 billion welfare fraud case in Minnesota, parts of which investigators say were funneled to the terror group al-Shabaab. Trump also criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, calling him “incompetent,” while repeating his view that Omar constantly complains about the United States.
The allegations against Omar, which she has repeatedly dismissed as baseless and Islamophobic conspiracy theories, resurfaced after renewed scrutiny of her past marriages. A 2019 Minneapolis Star-Tribune investigation reported inconsistencies in her marital and immigration records, including her 2009 civil marriage to Ahmed Elmi—whom some reports and witnesses have claimed is her brother—while she remained religiously married to Ahmed Hirsi. Testimony published in 2020 by the Daily Mail cited a Somali community leader who alleged Omar privately acknowledged the relationship and that the marriage helped Elmi stay in the U.S.
Former ICE director and current Border Czar Tom Homan told Newsmax he has requested Omar’s immigration file to determine whether the case was properly reviewed. At a rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump again raised the claims, urging that Omar be removed from Congress, which led supporters to chant “Send her back.”