The key facts

  • On October 12, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security conducted a raid on the home of congresswoman Ilhan Omar — three weeks before the midterm elections
  • The investigation concerns allegedly false information about her age in her father's immigration application 26 years ago
  • Trump is also attacking another Muslim Democratic politician, Abdul El-Sayed, a Senate candidate from Michigan

Who is Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, 44, was born in Mogadishu (Somalia), fled the civil war as a child, spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, and arrived in the United States with her family in 1995 at the age of 12. She received citizenship in 2000. Since January 2019 she has represented the state of Minnesota in the House of Representatives and was one of the first two Muslim women in Congress. Omar is a practicing Muslim who wears a hijab; Congress changed the 180-year-old ban on headwear in the House chamber. She promotes progressive agendas: universal health insurance, raising the minimum wage, climate protection, student debt forgiveness, and is one of Trump's loudest critics, accusing him of racism and inciting hatred against minorities, immigrants, and Muslims. She calls ICE immigration raids a 'militarized campaign of fear.' Minneapolis has the largest Somali community in the United States.

Criticism of Israel and accusations of antisemitism

Omar is one of the harshest critics of Israel in American politics and has faced accusations of antisemitism and support for the BDS movement (boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel). She herself defends BDS as a legitimate form of nonviolent protest and free speech; in 2019 she introduced a resolution in Congress on Americans' right to boycott. In early 2023, Republicans removed her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over a series of controversial tweets, including a 2021 comment that, as Deutsche Welle notes, outwardly equated the actions of the US and Israel with those of the 'Taliban' and Hamas (Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the US and many other countries).

Accusations of embezzlement and immigration fraud

Critics have tried to link Omar to a corruption scandal in Minnesota: during the COVID-19 pandemic, about $250 million (€220 million) was embezzled from a state-funded child nutrition program. Omar had previously advocated for loosening the program's rules. Many of those convicted were from the state's Somali community, which opponents, including Trump, used to claim Omar's involvement. However, according to DW, no law enforcement agency has ever accused her of any wrongdoing. Long-standing accusations also concern her immigration: opponents claim she gave false testimony during the procedure, up to a theory of a sham marriage to her brother to obtain his visa. On October 12, federal authorities ordered a raid on her home, investigating the suspicion that her father lied about her age in an immigration application.

Controversial raid and accusations of political pressure

Omar denies all accusations, calling what is happening a 'campaign of political intimidation' and 'an attempt to attack political enemies.' A number of prominent Democrats have accused the Trump administration of using the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security against opponents. Former immigration officials told Reuters that a raid as part of such an investigation is extremely unusual, since the government should already have all the relevant immigration documents. Many consider the raid on the home of a sitting member of Congress over a 26-year-old formality excessive and criticize its timing — three weeks before the midterm elections, in which Omar is running for re-election. The unwritten '60-day rule' instructs authorities not to take public actions against candidates in the two months before an election; critics consider its violation in this case election interference.

Attacks on other Muslim politicians

Omar is not the only target: Trump is also attacking Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate from Michigan. At a rally in Tennessee he said: 'I call him Mohammed. Someone said: his name is not Mohammed, it's Abdul. I said: for me he's Mohammed. I'm the president, I can call him whatever I want. For me he's Mohammed, and he's a radical jihadist.' According to DW, there is no intelligence information about El-Sayed's ties to extremists. The 41-year-old epidemiologist was born and raised in Michigan, received a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford and a doctorate in public health, and served for many years as Detroit's health director. Like Omar, he belongs to the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party. In his campaign, he blames rising food prices, expensive rent, and other problems on the 'failed policies' of the administration in Washington.

Trump's words about Omar

DW cites examples of Trump's public statements about Omar: 'Ilhan Omar, damn, whatever her name is, with her little — with her little turban, I love her. She comes and just whines,' 'Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. These are not people who work. These are people who just complain,' and also: 'She comes from a country without laws, without police, without an army, where everyone just shoots at each other. And she comes to our country and says: I have a constitutional right.'