Former Trump administration border adviser Tom Homan revealed this week that the Department of Homeland Security is reviewing longstanding claims that Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar may have committed immigration fraud by allegedly entering a marriage with a relative. The allegation centers on Omar’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Elmi, which ended in 2017. Trump and several allies have repeatedly claimed Elmi is Omar’s brother, though no official records or DNA evidence have ever verified that assertion, and Omar has consistently denied it. In a recent Newsmax interview, Homan said he is examining whether Omar may have violated immigration laws, noting that his team is gathering documents and “running it down this week.”
Homan added that DHS is conducting a broader review of visa fraud within the Somali community in Minnesota, referencing department concerns that up to 50% of visas issued in the state may be fraudulent. He said the review follows direct instructions from President Trump, who argued that accountability is needed. The former president repeated the allegation against Omar during an interview with Politico, criticizing her response to recent ICE operations targeting illegal Somali nationals in Minneapolis. Those enforcement actions followed revelations of a $1 billion welfare fraud scheme in Minnesota, portions of which investigators believe were funneled to the extremist group al-Shabaab.
Omar has dismissed the allegations as racist and Islamophobic smears, but questions about her marital history have lingered. A 2019 Minneapolis Star-Tribune investigation documented inconsistencies in her relationship timeline, including her civil marriage to Elmi while she remained religiously married to Ahmed Hirsi. She later had a third child with Hirsi before formally divorcing Elmi in 2017 and eventually separating from Hirsi again in 2019.
The Daily Mail has also reported testimony from Minneapolis Somali community leader Abdihakim Osman, who claimed Omar privately acknowledged Elmi was her brother and said she helped him obtain immigration documents. Osman alleged the marriage was kept quiet because religious authorities would not have approved it. Despite years of speculation, Omar has maintained that all accusations are fabricated political attacks and has declined to publicly clarify unresolved discrepancies in the records.