US agents search home of Ilhan Omar, Trump critic and Congress member

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations carried out the search early Monday morning, according to The Associated Press news agency, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department confirmed that agents had executed a court-authorised search warrant but did not identify Omar or provide details about the investigation.

Fox News reported, citing unidentified sources, that the search was linked to allegations of immigration fraud involving paperwork submitted by Omar’s late father when she was a child. Omar has previously denied allegations of immigration fraud, and no charges have been announced.

The Somali-born congresswoman, who came to the US a child refugee and later became a naturalised citizen, represents a district in the state of Minnesota that includes Minneapolis.

She has long been a target of Trump’s political attacks, particularly over immigration.

In September, Trump’s border security chief Tom Holman said Omar was the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, although he didn’t provide any other details. Omar said at the time that she hadn’t been contacted by Homeland Security and dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

Vice President JD Vance has also accused Omar in the past of immigration fraud without providing evidence. In an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, Vance said he and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller had talked about how to investigate her.

“How do you go after her? How do you investigate her? How do you actually do the thing?” Vance asked as he mused about building a case.

Omar’s office dismissed Vance’s allegations as “fabricated and defamatory” in March. There was no immediate public response from Omar to Monday’s search.

The search comes just over three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, when Republicans will be fighting to retain control of Congress.

Omar has said she and her family have faced death threats as a result of Trump’s rhetoric and has called his fixation on her “creepy”.

In December, the president called the congresswoman and other Somali immigrants “garbage”.

In February, he said Omar and Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, both Muslims and members of the progressive group of lawmakers known as “The Squad”, should be “institutionalised” and sent back to “where they came from” after they criticized his State of the Union address.

Last month, a Minnesota man was sentenced to 14 months in prison for spraying Omar with vinegar during a January town hall meeting, at the height of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, during which she had called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).