Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington area home in a criminal investigation

Federal agents searched the Washington, D.C. area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar early Monday in what the Justice Department called part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation, an extraordinary step against a sitting member of Congress three weeks before the midterm elections.

Homeland Security Investigations agents executed the search under a judicially authorized warrant secured by the Justice Department, a department spokesperson said. The statement gave no further detail on the reason for the search, and the department has not stated the scope of the investigation on the record.

Fox News Digital, citing two sources familiar with the matter, reported that the search stems from a criminal fraud investigation into immigration paperwork filled out by Omar's late father when she was a child. Omar was born in Somalia, fled the civil war with her family as a child, spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, arrived in the United States in 1995 and became a citizen in 2000.

A current federal official told NPR the search is part of a multi year probe that includes whistleblower complaints, and a former official briefed on the matter said the investigation deals with immigration fraud allegations. Those characterizations are attributed reporting, not findings. No charges have been announced against Omar or anyone else in connection with the search, and what agents took from the home has not been disclosed.

Neighbors saw the operation begin before dawn. Sharon Jackson, 79, who lives across the street, told NPR that agents woke her around 4:30 a.m. and arrived with a large truck. Agents in HSI jackets were seen outside the home into the morning.

Omar answered on X. She said she is ok, called the search an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement, and said she will not be silenced. Her spokesperson Jackie Rogers called the search a raid and an outrageous abuse of power. Omar has previously denied allegations of immigration fraud, and administration officials, including border czar Tom Homan, confirmed an investigation was underway in September while declining to give specifics. Vice President JD Vance has previously alleged Omar committed immigration fraud, an allegation she denies.

The timing guarantees a fight. The search landed 22 days before the November 3 midterms, in which Omar is seeking reelection in Minnesota's 5th District and Republicans are defending thin majorities in Congress. Justice Department rules bar investigators from timing steps to influence an election and impose added approvals for actions touching members of Congress, whose official papers carry constitutional protection. Whether those rules were followed, and what a judge was shown to authorize the warrant, are questions the department has not yet answered in public.