Raid on US Democrat Omar – According to media reports, investigations are aimed at deportation

Shortly before the midterm elections in the USA, a Democratic politician and Trump critic is at the center of investigations. The US justice system had the house of Ilhan Omar, MP in Minnesota, searched in Washington on Monday morning.

The raid is related to an investigation into suspected immigration fraud. Omar has Somali roots. The Justice Department confirmed the operation and said the measure was part of an ongoing federal investigation.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the core of the investigation is the question of whether Omar's father had given her the wrong age in his naturalization application. If Omar had been 17 at the time of her father's naturalization application, she would have met the age requirement for U.S. citizenship through her father's naturalization rather than having to go through her own immigration process. She was naturalized in 2000. According to the Wall Street Journal, authorities also followed up on relevant leads during Biden's administration, but did not find enough evidence, citing sources.

As the newspaper reports, citing US government officials and other sources, the investigation also aims to revoke Omar's American citizenship and then deport her.

There were allegations against Omar in 2016, when the Democrat ran for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives for the first time. Right-wing online media had claimed that Omar married a brother to commit immigration fraud and gain visa benefits. Omar had flatly rejected the allegations as “disgusting lies” and described the insinuation as “absurd and insulting”.

According to the report, authorities also issued more than a dozen subpoenas, including to some of Omar's relatives.

Omar accused the administration of Republican President Donald Trump of using the state apparatus as a weapon against political opponents. "For ten years, Trump has been attacking me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation," said the 44-year-old. “I will not be silenced.” She denied the allegations.

Omar is running for a fifth two-year term in the House of Representatives as a Minnesota state representative in the November 3 congressional election. She has been a US citizen since 2000 and is a prominent representative of the left wing of the Democratic Party.

“Unhealthy and creepy obsession”

In the past, Trump has repeatedly caused outrage with harsh defamations of Muslim and Somali immigrants and has repeatedly targeted Omar. During an appearance in the state of Ohio, the Republican said of Omar's native Somalia that she comes from one of the worst countries in the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has long called for Omar's deportation. Republican Representative Nancy Mace also demanded in an online post that Omar should be denaturalized and expelled from the country if fraud is proven.

Omar accused Trump of an "unhealthy and creepy obsession" and said Trump's constant hostilities had also led to death threats against her and her family.

Leading Democrats condemned the judiciary's actions against Omar as an abuse of power. It raises serious questions about instrumentalization of the government, said the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries. Typically, U.S. investigators avoid taking action against candidates in the 60 days before an election that could influence the outcome.