On Monday, October 12, federal agents searched the Washington, D.C. home of Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota as part of an investigation into her immigration history, according to the Associated Press and CBS News. Agents took her phone and, Al Jazeera reported, her passport. The AP and The Washington Post reported that more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas went out, including to some of her relatives.
The case is being handled by Homeland Security Investigations and the Justice Department. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin called it a strong case and said investigators expect to present it to a grand jury. According to CBS News, the inquiry centers on immigration paperwork her family filed decades ago, completed by her late father when she was a child.
Omar has not been charged with any crime. She denies wrongdoing and, in a response after the search, called it an "attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement." She became a naturalized citizen in 2000.
The fight over the search
Omar's attorneys, Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz, sent prosecutors a letter demanding the return of her property. They argue investigators ignored a magistrate judge's orders meant to protect a sitting member of Congress and her legislative materials, and they question the timing so close to the November midterms. The Justice Department called the letter riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies and said investigators complied with every court order.
On Episode 94, Daniel Rosenberg, Michael Dye and Lloyd Golburgh start where any defense lawyer would. What did agents have to show a judge to get the warrant, how far can a warrant for phones and devices reach, and what does a grand jury subpoena to family members tell you about where prosecutors are headed?
Can a citizen be deported?
Not while she is a citizen. A naturalized American can lose citizenship only through a court process, and only then could removal even come into play.
There are two routes. In a civil denaturalization case, the government has to prove that citizenship was obtained illegally or by concealing or misrepresenting a material fact, and it has to meet a high bar of clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence. In 2017, in Maslenjak v. United States, the Supreme Court held that a false statement only counts if it actually played a role in getting citizenship. The criminal route requires a conviction for unlawfully obtaining naturalization, and those charges generally must be brought within ten years. Civil denaturalization has no such deadline.
Her immigration history was also reviewed in 2019, and the Post reported that career officials found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to warrant a full investigation. Her lawyers have asked that records from that review be preserved, the AP reported.
What else the panel covers
The episode also gets into allegations about her marriage and tax filings that critics have raised for years and that Omar has denied, campaign finance questions, and her conduct at congressional hearings. The second half turns to Donald Trump's petition asking the Supreme Court to revive his lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, which we break down in a separate story.
As always, an investigation is not an accusation and an accusation is not a conviction. Watch the full breakdown and tell the panel what you think in the comments.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
