Ilhan Omar spent years attacking President Trump from her seat in Congress.

But the questions about her own path to American citizenship never went away.

And Tom Homan just confirmed one word about Ilhan Omar that she never wanted to hear.

Tom Homan puts the word “criminal” on the record

White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed in September 2026 that the Department of Homeland Security is running a “criminal” investigation into US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Homan made the confirmation on Fox News and named Homeland Security Investigations as the unit handling the file.

“I know things are going on, but I can’t give specifics of what’s happening,” Homan said.

The allegation at the center of it all is more than a decade old. Critics claim Omar married her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, in 2009 so he could get around US immigration law. Omar has repeatedly denied it.

Homan didn’t say what evidence the government holds. He didn’t spell out which part of Omar’s history agents are examining either.

But he did describe denaturalization as a “very serious process.” And he made clear a seat in Congress buys nobody a pass.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters at a White House press conference in May 2026 that the Department of Justice is looking at Omar too. “It certainly seems like something fishy is there,” Vance said, adding that he didn’t want to prejudge an investigation.

Omar brushed the whole thing off. She told Fox News Digital that DHS has not contacted her and that she isn’t worried because “the right wing always had this s*** going.”

A former prosecutor lays out the bar investigators face

Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney and former federal prosecutor, walked Fox News Digital through what the government would have to prove.

“In order to establish a successful marriage fraud case, the government would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt . . . that the defendant knowingly entered into a marriage with the primary purpose to evade immigration laws and get a benefit,” Wildes said.

He called that a “very high bar.” Wildes also pointed to statutes of limitations, since the marriage in question took place in 2009.

A marriage fraud conviction carries up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.

And Wildes didn’t hide where he stands. “I haven’t seen anything that I think is worthy of a prosecution,” he said.

But he knocked down Omar’s favorite talking point in the same breath. “The congresswoman’s not being aware doesn’t change anything,” Wildes said. “There is no obligation for the government to show their hand.”

So Omar saying nobody called her means nothing. Investigators who want a case to stick don’t phone the subject first.

The marriage question isn’t the only road, either. Denaturalization would turn on how Omar got her own citizenship in 2000.

Omar says she became a citizen automatically as a minor when her father naturalized. Congressional records list her as 17 at the time.

Former Minnesota congressional candidate AJ Kern alleged that someone revised Omar’s birth year on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library website. That claim fueled speculation that Omar was older than 17, which nobody has proven.

Wildes noted that a false statement in her father’s paperwork could also put her citizenship at risk. He added that prosecutors would have to separate an intentional lie from a simple mistake on an application.

Why this investigation fits the mandate voters handed Trump

Step back from the legal weeds for a second.

President Trump campaigned in 2024 on enforcing immigration law, and voters sent him back to Washington, DC to do it. Enforcing the law includes going after fraud in the naturalization system.

The Justice Department put that in writing. A June 2025 Civil Division memo ordered attorneys to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.”

The department has since filed batches of denaturalization cases, including actions against 12 people in May 2026 and 17 more in June 2026, according to its own announcements. Most of those defendants had no famous name and no press office.

That’s the piece Omar’s defenders skip. The federal government checks whether ordinary naturalized citizens told the truth on their paperwork. A member of Congress who allegedly gamed the same system shouldn’t get gentler treatment because cable news likes her.

Homan said as much when he told Fox News that “no one’s above the law.”

Nobody has charged Omar with anything. No court has found she lied. The government hasn’t shown its evidence, and it may turn out there isn’t enough to bring a case at all.

But “hard to prove” and “nothing to see” are two different things. Wildes described a steep climb, and prosecutors make steep climbs every day when the documents back them up.

It’s a little rich, too, to hear that investigating a politician is somehow out of bounds. The same political class cheered while prosecutors chased Trump through courtroom after courtroom.

Citizenship is the most valuable thing this country can give a newcomer. And when someone allegedly obtains it through fraud, the people cheated include every immigrant who followed the rules and waited in line.

Trump has feuded with Omar since her first term and has called for her to return to Somalia. His critics will call the investigation revenge.

But the real question is a factual one. Either the paperwork holds up or it doesn’t.

Homeland Security Investigations is pulling the records now. And Omar, who says she isn’t worried, may want to rethink that.

Sources:

Fox News Digital, “Could Trump revoke Ilhan Omar’s citizenship for alleged brother marriage? Ex federal prosecutor breaks it down,” September 29, 2026

Blaze News, “Homan confirms ‘ongoing criminal investigation’ into Ilhan Omar,” September 2026

The Center Square, “US Border Czar Homan Confirms Ongoing Federal Investigation Into Ilhan Omar,” September 2026

Fox News, “JD Vance says DOJ looking into if Ilhan Omar committed immigration fraud amid brother-marriage allegations,” May 19, 2026

US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, denaturalization announcements of May 8, 2026 and June 8, 2026

US Department of Justice, Civil Division Enforcement Priorities memo, June 11, 2025