US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says she will move out of her home in Washington, DC, citing safety concerns following a recent raid of the property by US federal agents.
In an interview with MS NOW on Wednesday, Omar spoke for the first time about the raid, noting that the incident has made her feel unsafe there.
Last week, officers searched Omar’s home with what a Justice Department spokesperson described as a “judicially authorised search warrant”, adding that the raid was part of an “ongoing federal criminal investigation”.
According to NBC News, which cited one person familiar with the matter, potential future charges against Omar may include conspiracy and making false statements in her immigration paperwork. Omar denies wrongdoing and accuses the administration of political intimidation .
Omar, who was born in Somalia and is a naturalised US citizen, said she is “confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong”.
The progressive Minnesota Democrat has been a frequent critic and target of US President Donald Trump, who has on multiple occasions pushed for the prosecution of his perceived political enemies.
Earlier this week, Trump called the congresswoman “sick” and “dishonest” and slammed her birthplace as a “real s—house”.
For years, Omar, who is Muslim, has been the target of right-wing conspiracy theories about her immigration status, including allegations that she had married her brother.
The Minnesota congresswoman has repeatedly denied the allegations as “disgusting lies”.
In the interview with MS NOW, Omar said she was rattled by the search weeks out from the November 3 midterm elections, which will decide control of the House and Senate. She is running for re-election in a deep blue district in Minneapolis and is expected to retain her seat.
Omar recalled waking up at about 6am to Homeland Security investigators banging on her door with a warrant. They searched for four or five hours and seized 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a Somali-language children’s book and a vintage camera that her husband had received as a gift, she said.
Omar came with her family to the US at age 12, after they obtained asylum. She became a US citizen five years later, in 2000.
“It would be a huge undertaking to, I suppose, indict a 12-year-old for so cleverly conspiring to defraud immigration services to come to the United States. I’m sure there are a lot of smart 12-year-olds, but that seems like a leap,” she said in the interview.
The search drew sharp condemnation from congressional Democrats, who also questioned the timing. The Justice Department has historically avoided overt investigative actions involving candidates in the immediate run-up to an election.
Omar said the agents were “intrusive but polite”, logging the items they took and putting back everything else in its place.
