Former President Barack Obama criticized the federal investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) citizenship, saying the raid on her Washington, D.C., home should be upsetting to any American.
Obama had not previously weighed in on the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation into Omar until Sunday, and the former president framed the circumstances as political retribution for the congresswoman’s criticism of President Donald Trump.
“It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say,” he said. “But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.”
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the raid of Omar’s home Oct. 12 after the Department of Justice authorized a search warrant as part of an investigation into the congresswoman’s immigration paperwork. Omar immigrated to the United States from Somalia and is the first Somali-born U.S. lawmaker.
In his statement, Obama reiterated Omar’s account that she came to the U.S. from Somalia at 12 years old, and her father underwent naturalization when she was 17, automatically granting her citizenship because she was a minor. Omar has previously said a clerical error led her birth year to be 1981, which would have made her 18 at the time of her father’s naturalization, meaning she would have had to separately apply for citizenship. However, her birth year has since been updated to 1982.
The former president said the idea that Omar was fraudulently granted citizenship after allegedly lying about her date of birth is an “unsubstantiated theory.” He added that the raid was carried out “to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.”
“Think about that,” Obama said. “The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president. And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies — from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve.”
The cases Obama is referring to are the indictments of New York Attorney General Letitia James on bank fraud, former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly threatening the life of the president, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for allegedly mismanaging funds during a renovation of the central bank building. The charges against Powell have since been dropped, and the cases against James and Comey have been dismissed.
Still, Obama said the cases exemplify Trump’s efforts to target his apparent political enemies and said Omar’s case is likely to have the same fate.
“In those cases, the prosecutions either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law, and the same is likely to happen in this case,” he said. “But not before Congresswoman Omar’s life has been turned upside down, her legal bills have piled up, and she’s been forced to spend time fighting unsubstantiated charges instead of serving the people of Minnesota.
“The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views,” he continued. “Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”
ILHAN OMAR IMMIGRATION HISTORY: SCRUTINY SURROUNDS FAMILY’S REFUGEE CLAIMS
The Trump administration’s investigation into Omar intends to strip her of her citizenship and deport her back to Somalia, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Trump said in January that the DOJ is investigating Omar over discrepancies in her financial records, and Vice President JD Vance later revealed that the DOJ is also probing allegations that Omar participated in a sham marriage with her biological brother from Somalia so he could gain residency in the United States.
Omar has repeatedly denied the allegations against her and framed the investigations as “smear campaigns” and “political intimidation.”