(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump is calling on U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar to resign amid the ongoing federal investigation into the Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota.
“It was just revealed just a little while ago that . . . her name is not Ilhan Omar, the one that she used to get elected and sworn into Congress,” Trump said during a rally in Iowa on Thursday. “She used a fake name to be sworn in. I assume she must immediately have to resign from Congress.”
Trump added that this could have election implications, as Omar is up for reelection in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District.
“The Republicans have just picked up a seat in the House,” Trump said.
These comments follow the release of a federal court filing that identified Omar as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.”
The filing is the latest development in an ongoing controversy that intensified after Homeland Security Investigations searched Omar’s Washington, D.C., home earlier this month. Reports have linked the search to an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her naturalization as a U.S. citizen.
This week, Omar appeared in her first public interview since the raid, sitting down with MS NOW on Wednesday.
When asked about allegations that she married her brother to commit immigration fraud, Omar said she was “not to my knowledge” related to her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
Omar said she was startled by the early morning raid on her home.
“It obviously did freak all of us out,” Omar said. “They basically surrounded the house. They were pounding, pounding on the back door and the front door.”
During the interview, she also offered further details about the “four- or five-hour” search, saying federal agents took 17 items from her home, including old phones.
Omar and her supporters have labeled the investigation political targeting.
“Trump’s goal is to intimidate me and get me to back down,” she said on Thursday. “That’s not going to happen. I will not be silenced, and I will not stop fighting for my constituents.”
The raid came just a month after White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed that Omar is actively under investigation by DHS.
Omar, who immigrated to the United States in 1995, has faced scrutiny for years over the circumstances surrounding her naturalization as a citizen.
In September, Homan refused to reveal many details regarding the “ongoing criminal investigation,” besides that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are the ones conducting it.
Homan said over the weekend that federal investigators have a “strong case” against Omar, also addressing whether Omar could face legal consequences.
“I’m not going to get ahead of the bureau,” Homan said. “We will let the evidence lead where it leads. But she will be held to the same standards you and I are held. If she violated law, then she will be held accountable.”
When asked what the investigation is examining and whether it extends beyond potential immigration fraud, Homan said he “knows things” but directed the question to the FBI.
Reports indicate that members of Omar’s family are among more than a dozen people subpoenaed by a grand jury. Federal investigators have also reportedly obtained DNA evidence as part of the investigation.
Omar has long denied the allegations that she married her brother, calling them “disgusting lies.”
In December, Omar called an effort to examine records pertaining to her immigration “sick.”
“I have no response because I don’t know what they'll be investigating,” Omar told a reporter. She added that investigators would “absolutely not” find anything.
According to federal officials, the investigation has been ongoing for some months.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin also discussed the issue in September, alleging that they’ve already determined that she married her brother.
“Something’s going to happen,” Mullin said. “We know that she married her brother to try to bring him to the United States. We know he now lives in London.”
Mullin also threw out the prospect of deportation, which would first require denaturalization.
“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,” Mullin said. “If we can prove it, that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we will deport you.”
Omar has served in the U.S. Congress since 2019.
The FBI and Department of Justice declined to comment on the investigation in response to inquiries from The Center Square.
Elyse Apel, a graduate of Hillsdale College, is a reporter for The Center Square covering Minnesota and Michigan. Her work has appeared in a range of national outlets, including the Washington Examiner, The American Spectator, and The Daily Wire.
Originally published on thecentersquare.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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