WASHINGTON — Federal agents descended on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home in the Washington, D.C., area on Monday, executing a judicially authorized search warrant as part of what the Justice Department described only as "an ongoing federal criminal investigation."

Agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — the criminal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security — carried out the search, blocking off the street outside the Minnesota Democrat's residence Monday morning. DHS referred all questions about the search to the Justice Department, which confirmed the action in a brief statement but released no further detail about its scope or what evidence agents were seeking.

The raid lands roughly three weeks before the November midterms, in which Omar — first elected in 2018 to represent Minnesota's 5th Congressional District and a member of the progressive group known as "The Squad" — is seeking reelection. Omar, a Somali-American refugee who fled civil war as a child before resettling in Minnesota, became one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and has long faced criticism from President Trump and his allies over her immigration background.

A probe that started with an accusation, not evidence

The investigation traces back to May 2026, when Vice President JD Vance publicly suggested irregularities in Omar's immigration paperwork without presenting evidence. "It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody's entitled to equal justice under the laws," Vance said at the time, according to the Boston Globe. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added last month that "something's going to happen."

Omar denounced Monday's search as political retaliation, calling it an "attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement" and adding that Trump has targeted her "with baseless lies and smear campaigns" for a decade.

"I WILL NOT BE SILENCED."

Trump, campaigning at a rally in Ohio the same day, took a swipe at Omar — "She's telling us about the Constitution, and she comes from one of the worst countries anywhere on the planet," he told the crowd — but told reporters hours after the search that he had "nothing to do with it" and that it was "really up to the DOJ."

Top Democrats rushed to Omar's defense. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other congressional leaders said Trump's "deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family," calling the search "continued corrupt weaponization" of federal law enforcement against the president's political opponents, per The Hill. Justice Department norms generally discourage overt investigative steps targeting candidates within 60 days of an election, a point Democrats noted pointedly in their statements. No Republican lawmakers beyond Trump, Vance and Mullin had weighed in publicly by Monday evening.

The Justice Department has disclosed no charges, and the investigation remains, in its own words, "ongoing." Omar is expected to keep campaigning for her Minneapolis-area seat through Election Day, with the probe now certain to become a flashpoint in the campaign's final stretch.