U.S. authorities search and seize Rep. Noh before the midterm elections... Democratic Party's "static target investigation" (comprehensive)

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Seong-min = On the 12th (local time), U.S. federal investigative authorities searched and seized the Washington, D.C. home of Somalia-born Representative Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) of the opposition Democratic Party.

According to reports from Fox News and others, at around 6 a.m. Eastern time on this day, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Department of Justice sent investigators to Representative Omar's home in Washington to conduct a search and seizure.

A Department of Justice spokesperson told Fox News, "Today in Washington, D.C., HSI executed a search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This action is part of an ongoing federal investigation," without explaining specifically what charges are being investigated.

However, two sources told Fox News that this investigation is part of a fraud investigation related to documents prepared by Rep. Omar's late father when he immigrated to the United States from Somalia.

Representative Omar is an immigrant who came to the United States to escape the civil war in Somalia, and has consistently criticized President Donald Trump. When she entered the Federal Assembly through the 2018 midterm elections, she attracted attention as a member of the 'Squad', a group of four first-term female lawmakers with strong progressive tendencies within the Democratic Party.

President Trump and the Republican Party have argued that Rep. Omar should be stripped of her citizenship and deported, saying she married her brother in order to immigrate to the United States.

However, Rep. Omar has strongly denied these allegations, calling them “disgusting lies.”

Rep. Omar and Democratic Party leaders strongly criticized the authorities' search and seizure that day.

Representative Omar's office said in a statement, "This is an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political opponents. Representative Omar has done nothing wrong."

Democratic House leaders, including Representative Hakeem Jeffries, also issued a statement, saying, "With less than 30 days left before the midterm elections, Trump's violent mass deportation machine struck the homes of duly elected members of the House of Representatives and their families," and added, "We will hold the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice fully accountable for their reckless abuse of power."

Fox News pointed out that this mandatory investigation by the U.S. investigative authorities took place about a month after White House 'border czar' Tom Horman confirmed last month that the investigation into Rep. Omar was in progress.

“If someone has violated immigration laws or committed marriage fraud or something like that, they can’t be above the law, whether they’re in the House of Representatives or not,” Homan said in a Fox News interview last September.

However, controversy is also being raised that the Ministry of Justice violated its own unwritten rule, the so-called '60-day rule', that it does not conduct public investigations or prosecutions 60 days before the election in order to avoid influencing the election.

The New York Times said that there were exceptions to this rule and that debate continued surrounding the scope of investigation and prosecution, but that "for several years, Justice Department officials have concluded that searches and seizures of politicians' homes or businesses that can be observed by the public are clear activities that should be avoided for 60 days."