How Denaturalization Works Amidst Investigation Into Ilhan Omar's Citizenship

Federal agents have intensified investigations into Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, weeks before her reelection, subpoenaing relatives and executing a search warrant at her Washington, D.C. residence. While the Department of Justice has not provided details, multiple outlets citing anonymous sources report the investigation stems from her immigration paperwork, filled out by her late father when she was a child.

During the previous Trump administration, officials accused Omar of immigration fraud without evidence. In March, Vice President JD Vance stated the White House was exploring "legal remedies" for alleged immigration fraud, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin later said the investigation was "ongoing" and not political retribution.

Omar has denied the allegations and condemned the raid as "political intimidation," vowing not to be silenced. President Trump and other Republicans have previously suggested revoking Omar's citizenship, a process known as denaturalization, and deporting her.

The Denaturalization Process

Legal and immigration experts explain that denaturalizing a U.S. citizen is a rare and legally challenging process, requiring federal authorities to meet a high standard before a federal judge. This process is more arduous than standard deportation proceedings, which are initiated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and approved by immigration judges.

All denaturalization efforts begin at the Department of Justice (DOJ). A DOJ lawyer must decide whether to file a civil or criminal petition in court. A civil complaint has no statute of limitations, while a criminal complaint has a 10-year statute of limitations and requires a higher legal bar. For civil denaturalization, the government must present clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence that the person obtained citizenship illegally or willfully misrepresented a material fact. Simply having an error in an immigration document does not guarantee a judge will approve stripping citizenship.

For a criminal denaturalization conviction, the government must prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the individual knowingly obtained citizenship through fraud, the highest legal standard. The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 in Maslenjak v. United States that only an illegal act playing a role in a citizenship application could lead to criminal denaturalization.

It remains unclear what evidence the federal government possesses to suggest fraud or intentional misrepresentation in Omar's application, which her father submitted when she was 17. Even if denaturalized, a person does not automatically face deportation; they would retain their previous legal immigration status until a final order of removal is issued by ICE.

Omar's Path to Citizenship

According to her House biography, Omar and her family fled Somalia when she was eight and sought asylum in the United States in 1995. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000 at age 17. At that time, federal law allowed immigrants under 18 to be naturalized if both parents were citizens. This law was later updated in 2001 to require only one parent to become a citizen for children to be naturalized.

Reports suggest the investigation focuses on whether Omar's father lied about her age in immigration documents to make her eligible to derive citizenship through him. If Omar had been 18 at the time of the application, she might have applied on her own after holding a green card for five years.

Concerns about Omar's citizenship surfaced in 2019 after her election to Congress, with reports indicating her staff sought to change her official birth year from 1981 to 1982 in public records shortly after her election.

Rarity of Denaturalization

Despite increased efforts in recent years, denaturalization remains an exceedingly rare legal process. Between 1990 and 2017, an average of 11 denaturalization cases were filed per year, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The DOJ announced efforts to strip at least 108 people of citizenship in 2026, a number significantly smaller than the hundreds of thousands granted citizenship annually.