Ilhan Omar's Father Lacks Naturalization Record Amid Investigation
Documents obtained by an activist show no official record of citizenship for the congresswoman's father, raising questions about Omar's own citizenship claims.
Documents obtained in 2023 by a Minnesota activist reveal that Nur Omar Mohamed, the father of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has no official record of being a naturalized U.S. citizen. The findings, which emerged from a request for information by AJ Kern, a former primary opponent of Omar's, may cast doubt on Omar's own claims of U.S. citizenship derived through her father.
A "diligent search" conducted by a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services information officer found no record for Nur Omar Mohamed or variations of his name, according to the documents. Kern, who had requested the information during her 2022 congressional campaign, received the response in September 2023.
These documents complicate Omar's assertion that she became a U.S. citizen in 2000 at age 17, a timeline she linked to her father's naturalization. Kern suggested that Omar may have been older than she claimed when she acquired citizenship. Candidates running for federal office, including Omar, attest to their citizenship status under penalty of perjury on state and federal forms. Omar has consistently stated she is a U.S. citizen.
In a June 2018 affidavit of candidacy submitted to the Minnesota secretary of state's office, Omar affirmed she was "a citizen of the United States." She has previously stated that she was born in Somalia, lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for four years, and resettled in the U.S. in 1995.
Omar told The Intercept in 2018 that she became a citizen before turning 18, through her father's naturalization process. In response to questions about her birthdate, Omar's campaign told the Associated Press in 2018 that she had not produced a birth certificate because of the collapse of infrastructure in Somalia during its civil war.
Kern has expressed concerns about the safeguards in the current system for foreign-born individuals seeking federal office. She noted that refugees often obtain Social Security numbers and driver's licenses, which can facilitate voter registration and self-attestation of citizenship without rigorous verification in some jurisdictions.
On Monday, Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant at Omar's Washington, D.C. residence. Agents were observed removing boxes of evidence. Sources familiar with a years-long criminal investigation indicated that the probe concerns allegedly false statements made on immigration papers, focusing on Omar's eligibility for citizenship. An official statement from Omar's office described the search as an "attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement."