Ilhan Omar's Staff Changed Birthdate After Election Amid Citizenship Questions

Rep. Ilhan Omar's staff assisted in officially altering her birthdate in public records after her election to Congress in 2018. This change has intensified scrutiny and accusations that the Minnesota Democrat misrepresented her age to obtain U.S. citizenship. The alteration could be significant for federal immigration agents investigating potential misrepresentations on immigration forms, as critics argue that if Omar is older than previously stated, she may not have been eligible for U.S. citizenship in 2000.

For the duration of her time in the state House and for several months into her congressional term, Omar's birthdate was consistently listed as October 4, 1981, in sources such as the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Wikipedia, and various media outlets, including the BBC. However, following a viral video from a political opponent in 2019 that alleged Omar was lying about her age, her staff intervened.

According to emails reviewed by The Post, staff from Omar's congressional office contacted the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library on May 17, 2019, to request a change in her birth year to 1982. The director of the library noted in an email dated May 24, 2019, that Omar's congressional staff were working to update her birth year on sites like Wikipedia and the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. The director also stated that the initial 1981 birth year had been used as it was "widely available—in Wikipedia and the Biographical Directory–and so we added that birthdate without documentation."

Representatives for Omar and the congresswoman herself have consistently denied allegations of immigration fraud. Omar stated on X, formerly Twitter, that former President Trump had targeted her with "baseless lies and smear campaigns" and viewed the current situation as an "escalation in his campaign of political intimidation."

Omar has previously stated that she received derivative citizenship through her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, who she said became a naturalized citizen in 2000. In a September 2018 interview with The Intercept, Omar said, "I became a citizen actually before I turned 18. My father became a citizen and so I got my citizenship through that process."

AJ Kern, who ran against Omar in the 2022 House Democratic primary, claimed that for derivative citizenship, both the father's naturalization and the child's status as a minor at the time must be true. Kern suggested that it is "highly likely that neither of those things are true" in Omar's case. Kern filed an FEC complaint and sued Omar seeking proof of citizenship, though a state judge dismissed the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction.

If Omar provided false information on official documents such as passport renewals or loan applications, she could face prosecution, as naturalization fraud has a 10-year statute of limitations. Individuals familiar with the federal criminal investigation into Omar have indicated that she is being examined for making false statements on immigration forms. Kern suggested that federal agents might be seeking her citizenship papers and her father's naturalization records.

Former President Trump amplified Kern's claims in a December 2025 Truth Social post, and administration officials have previously suggested Omar was under investigation for possible immigration fraud.