Border czar Tom Homan said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., could be stripped of her citizenship and deported if investigators confirm she committed immigration fraud, following a federal raid on her Washington, D.C. home this week in which agents seized her cellphone and other belongings.
“Of course, if you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody. We’ve done it before… And certainly, if the evidence points that way, that could happen,” Homan said during an appearance on “The Big Weekend Show” on Saturday.
Homan said Omar would face the same scrutiny as any other citizen. “She’ll be held to the same standards you and I are held. If she violated the law, then she’ll be held accountable,” he said, though he declined to discuss specifics of the ongoing investigation.
“I said over a year ago, the allegations were made clear, and it would be investigated, and they are investigating it,” Homan said. “I’m not going to get ahead of the bureau or HSI, but I’ve been told they have a strong case, and we’ll let the evidence lead where it leads.”
Omar is under federal investigation over claims that she or her father falsified her birth year on immigration paperwork when the family fled Somalia in the late 1990s. Her father became a U.S. citizen in 2000, and Omar, believed at the time to be 17, automatically qualified for citizenship as a minor alongside him. More recently, allegations have surfaced claiming she was actually 18 at the time, which would have required her to pursue citizenship through a separate process.
Omar and other Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have called the investigation a politically motivated attack on one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, arriving weeks before a critical election.
Former President Barack Obama has also spoken out in support of Omar, accusing the Trump administration of what he called “appalling” targeting.
When asked whether federal officials have grounds to investigate wrongdoing beyond the immigration fraud allegations, Homan declined to elaborate. “That’s a question for the FBI. I know things, but that’s the question for FBI,” he said.
Omar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
