WASHINGTON – The pre-dawn raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home in Washington, D.C., has raised legal, ethical and political questions.
The Justice Department confirmed that it was conducted by the Homeland Security Investigations unit, whose officers were armed with a judicially authorized search warrant, and concerns an unspecified criminal matter.
The warrant is tied to immigration documents Omar’s father filled out when the family was admitted to the United States as Somali refugees who had fled to Kenya. Omar was a child at the time.
Little else is known about the raid, but its unusual timing has drawn skepticism from Democrats and political observers.
The Justice Department has a “60-day rule” that warns against conducting actions concerning a political candidate within 60 days of Election Day.
But that is just a guideline, not law, and has been violated several times, most famously in 2016 when then-FBI Director James Comey announced the reopening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails just 11 days before the presidential election.
And President Donald Trump and his attorneys frequently argued that the “60-day rule” barred former Special Counsel Jack Smith from filing updated indictments or pushing forward with criminal trials on the classified documents case near an election.
The guideline bars actions “for the purpose of affecting any election or the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.” But the key word is “purpose.” The guidance focuses on intent, not consequences.
And the rule does not apply to new action related to ongoing investigations.
Related: Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home as part of a criminal investigation, AP sources say
Just as Trump and his attorneys accused Smith of trying to influence an election for partisan reasons, Democrats on Monday said the investigation into Omar is politically motivated.
“This latest action, even as voting has already started in Minnesota, is a transparent attempt to interfere in our elections,” Sen. Tina Smith said in a post on X.
Smith also said that Trump and the Justice Department “have a bizarre obsession with tearing down Minnesota, our leaders and our communities.”
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a joint statement with other House Democratic leaders, said the raid “raises serious questions about the corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries.”
Omar also said the raid was part of “lawfare” against her.
“I’m OK. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” Omar said in a post on X.
She added, “I will not be silenced.”
A lightning rod for the right
Trump, since his first term in the White House, has targeted Omar and repeatedly said he wants her deported.
Most recently he has accused the Democrat, who represents a Minneapolis-based district, of fraudulently enriching herself, though two House ethics panels found no wrongdoing. The President has also repeatedly claimed that Omar married her brother in an immigration scam.
In December, Trump said proof of that marriage would be revealed soon, but has not released anything since then.
Meanwhile, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told right-wing media personality Benny Johnson that “we know that she married her brother to try to bring him into the United States.”
“We know he lives now in London,” Mullin said. “We feel that there may be more to this, the whole family migration, and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with. But all of us, we’re investigating.”
Omar has called these allegations “disgusting lies.”
Kate Angustias, counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), said “in most cases” any fraud in an application to enter the United States would be a civil issue.
But there could be removal proceedings initiated against someone even if the alleged fraud occurred decades ago.
“It depends on what they would be charging someone with,” Angustias said.
A “complicating factor,” however, is that Omar’s father filled out the immigration forms that appear to be under question when the lawmaker was a minor.
“I don’t know what (guilt) would attach to a child,” Angustias said.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, there is no time limit on when the federal government can initiate removal proceedings against a deportable noncitizen and those proceedings can occur decades after an unlawful entry or conviction.
But there is a five-year statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions of immigrants accused of all but the most serious crimes.
The raid on Omar’s home so close to the Nov. 3 election is not likely to hurt her politically. Trump’s attacks on her have never appeared to erode the widespread support she has in her district, which is rated “Solid Democratic” by the Cook Political Report.
John Nagel, Omar’s Republican opponent, said in a statement that the investigation appears to go further than her 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
“Investigators now have the responsibility to determine whether identities and family relationships were accurately represented in the original immigration records and whether subsequent filings were consistent with them,” Nagel said.
But the real goal of the raid may be about more than whatever investigators do or do not find. Omar, a leading progressive voice in the U.S. House and a strong critic of Trump and his policies, is a lightning rod for conservatives, especially those belonging to the president’s loyal base.
So, the greater political impact of the raid may be its ability to energize those voters.
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