Former US president Barack Obama has accused the Trump administration of going after congresswoman Ilhan Omar for political reasons. In a post on X, he described a federal criminal probe into the Minnesota Democrat as “so appalling” and argued that the state’s full power was being aimed at a lawmaker who had criticised the president.
Obama wrote: “The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president.” The White House defended the inquiry, saying the justice department was “focused on restoring law and order”. Last week, homeland security agents searched Omar’s home in Washington DC as part of an investigation into her immigration status.
Questions over Omar’s age when her father was naturalised
Omar was born in Somalia and moved to the United States with her family when she was a child. US media outlets have reported that the investigation is linked to her American citizenship and to whether she misstated her age when she arrived in the country in 1995. Questions have also been raised about whether the age on her citizenship application differed from her actual date of birth.
In his Sunday post, Obama said Omar’s father became a naturalised citizen when she was 17, which meant she was not yet a legal adult at that point, and that this was what gave her citizenship. He criticised the government for seeking her removal, writing that the administration was “actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar”. He said this appeared to rest “solely on the unsubstantiated theory” that she was 18 when her father was naturalised, which would mean she was not a citizen.
Obama warned that if such actions became routine, there was no reason to think they would end with Omar. He added that future presidents from either party might act in the same way. According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, a child born abroad becomes a citizen automatically if at least one parent is a citizen by birth or naturalisation, or if the child is under 18, is a lawful permanent resident and lives in the custody of a citizen parent.
White House denial and Omar’s legal challenge
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis denied that the investigation was politically motivated. In an emailed statement, she said: “Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump has not weaponized the Department of Justice against his political foes.” She added that the department was focused on restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.
Trump has often argued that federal criminal investigations against him during his re-election campaign were politically driven. The probe into Omar could lead the justice department to seek to “denaturalise” her, meaning revoke her citizenship. To do so, it would have to prove there were material lies in the naturalisation process.
Federal agents reportedly seized Omar’s phone, computers, notebooks and passport during the raid. Her lawyers have demanded that the government return her belongings. In a letter sent on Friday, they argued that the seizure broke restrictions set by a judge to protect her work as a federal lawmaker, according to a US network’s report. The lawyers also alleged that agents did not properly notify Omar or the House of Representatives general counsel about the search, and kept her from contacting her attorney for more than an hour.
Democrats have described the raid as an attempt by the president to interfere with the legislative branch of government. Republicans have said Omar should be treated like anyone else under the law. Omar has said Trump has targeted her for years with “baseless lies and smear campaigns”, and she called the investigation “the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation”. Trump has said the probe had “nothing to do” with him, while describing Omar as a “terrible person” and a “complainer”.
Obama’s post did not mention the history of Trump’s own challenges to his citizenship. When Obama first ran for president, and throughout his two terms, Trump repeatedly questioned where he was born, claiming he was not born on American soil and was therefore ineligible for office. Obama released two records showing he had been born in Hawaii.
