Ilhan Omar says 'bizarre' pre-dawn raid on her home is forcing her to move out
The congresswoman said federal agents seized over a dozen items, including cell phones and notebooks, as part of a federal investigation.
Ilhan Omar says 'bizarre' pre-dawn raid on her home is forcing her to move out
Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar said she can no longer stay in her Washington DC home after federal agents searched it last week, saying she now fears her address has been exposed because of the raid.
"With the death threats that I deal with, it's not, it's no longer going to be feasible to be in that house and have my kids," she told
In Omar's first public interview since the pre-dawn search of her home, she described how Homeland Security Investigations agents took more than a dozen items, including cell phones and notebooks, as part of an investigation.
The government has not said what crime Omar is accused of, but said the raid was "part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation".
The search came after multiple comments from officials questioning Omar's US citizenship, which she obtained in 2000 after arriving from Kenya.
More than a dozen subpoenas have also been served on members of Omar's family as part of the investigation, and it was reported that her personal computers and passport were among the items seized.
Describing the hourslong raid of her home to MS NOW, Omar said: "It obviously did freak all of us out."
Omar said agents started "pounding on the doors" of her home at about 06:00 EDT (11:00 BST) on 12 October, waking her and her husband, who were both in bed.
"We were screaming," she said, as the pair rushed downstairs to see what was going on, calling the episode "so bizarre".
The Minnesota Democrat estimated that 15 to 25 agents surrounded her home, and said all of them "conducted themselves in a decent way".
After Omar asked for one, agents showed her a warrant at the door.
She then watched from the couch as agents spent about five hours moving from room to room, Omar said, and left with 17 items in total, including several cellphones, notebooks, and her husband's camera from the 1960s.
Omar again criticised the government's investigation, saying it appeared intended to intimidate her.
Right after the raid last week, she posted a statement online calling it "an outrageous abuse of power" and "weaponisation of federal law enforcement to target political enemies".
Former President Barack Obama also condemned the federal probe, saying in a lengthy statement that it was "so appalling".
Omar, who has represented Minnesota since 2018, has long been a target of President Donald Trump's, who has repeatedly said she should "go back" to Somalia.
He has denied any role in her investigation, saying it has "nothing to do with me".
At an Ohio rally in October, Trump mentioned the search of her home, saying: "I don't know what they're doing with it, but I can tell you this: she's a disaster."
The congresswoman, however, dismissed the president's response, saying that "he's got everything to do with it".
"You know, this goes back to 2019 when he was screaming about the fact that, you know, I, I need to be sent back, I need to be deported."