WASHINGTON — U.S. federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a startling escalation in a criminal investigation that brings renewed focus to the frequent target of Trump administration derision in the final weeks of her reelection bid. The search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home so close to next month’s midterm contests that will determine control of the House and the Senate was swiftly condemned by top Democrats in Congress, who raised questions about the timing given longstanding Justice Department protocol to avoid overt investigative steps involving political candidates in the direct run-up to an election. Omar, an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, said separately that she was being targeted as one of the Republican’s “political enemies.” The nature and scope of the investigation were unclear, though Trump and officials in his administration have repeatedly referred in recent months to the existence of an inquiry into Omar, a Somali-born Democrat whose status as an immigrant to the U.S. and left-wing views have drawn scrutiny from the White House and other Republicans. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last month cited an “ongoing investigation” that he suggested was examining potential fraud on her family’s immigration paperwork. “Something’s going to happen,” he said. In a statement on X on Monday, Omar called the search an “attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation,” she said. “I will not be silenced.” Though the Republican focus on Omar’s background dates back years, the search notably took place three weeks before the November midterms, in which Omar is on the ballot for reelection. The U.S. Justice Department has historically sought to avoid public investigative actions involving a candidate within 60 days of a primary or general election. Top Democrats seized on the timing as the latest instance in what they said was the “continued corrupt weaponization” of law enforcement against Trump’s perceived adversaries. “For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations,” said a joint statement issued from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other top congressional Democrats. “Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family.” Trump referenced Omar as recently as this past weekend The search was carried out by agents with Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). A DHS spokesperson referred questions to the Justice Department, which said in a statement that HSI agents had executed a judicially authorized search warrant in the Washington, D.C., area related to an ongoing federal criminal investigation. It provided no other details. The street around Omar’s home was blocked off Monday morning as HSI agents carried out the search, with some removing boxes from “seized property evidence.” The operation came just two days after Trump referred pejoratively to Omar at a rally in Tennessee as coming from a country of “crime and squalor” and suggested that U.S. Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her. Vance has in the past accused Omar of committing immigration fraud, an allegation she has denied, and that the White House were looking for pathways to investigate her. Omar has long been a target for Republicans Omar, who was first elected to the House in 2018, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, including Minneapolis. She is part of The Squad of progressive lawmakers who are a vibrant political force on the left wing of Congress but have also endured repeated attacks from Trump, dating back to his first term. She was one of the first two Muslim-American women in the House and the first African refugee to be elected to U.S. Congress. When Republicans swept control of the House in 2023, they voted to oust Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, citing her anti-Israel remarks. In January, Trump lashed out at Omar during a rally in Iowa hours before an assailant sprayed the congresswoman during her own town hall meeting in Minneapolis with a substance that turned out to be vinegar. The attacker was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Republicans have raised questions about Omar’s past since before she was even elected, including asserting that she had married her brother and committed immigration fraud. Omar has broadly denied the allegations as “disgusting lies.” “It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody’s entitled to equal justice under the laws,” Vance told reporters in May. “So we’re going to investigate it. We’re going to take a look at it. If we think there’s a crime, we’re going to prosecute that crime. And that’s something the Department of justice is looking at right now.” In an interview last March with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, Vance said without offering evidence that “we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.” Omar’s office at the time dismissed Vance’s claims as fabricated and defamatory, saying in a statement that, “`This is rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to `create stories’ to redirect the media.’” Last month, when the podcaster Johnson reminded Mullin about Vance’s past comments on Omar and asked whether anything would happen as a result of that investigation, the U.S. Homeland Security secretary responded: “Something’s going to happen.” He cited an “ongoing investigation” that he suggested was looking at potential fraud in the family’s immigration paperwork. “If we actually move a case forward, it’s not a political case. It’s actually a case because they did things wrong,” Mullin said. “If you decided to break the law or law on the information that you gave to the United States...there’s no expiration to that.” ___ Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Michelle L. Price and River Zhang in Washington, Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pa., and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed. By Alanna Durkin Richer
