Ilhan Omar should be jailed, deported if citizenship fraud proven, Top House Republican says
EXCLUSIVE: The highest-ranking House lawmaker from Rep. Ilhan Omar's home state is calling for the embattled progressive to be jailed and deported if it is found that she or her father lied on federal paperwork to get her U.S. citizenship.
Omar, D-Minn., is under federal investigation over allegations that she or her father lied about her birth year on immigration paperwork in order to obtain her citizenship when her family fled Somalia in the late 1990s. She and other Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have denounced the probe as political persecution of one of President Donald Trump's detractors weeks before a critical election.
But Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 leader in the House of Representatives, told Fox News Digital that "there have been rumors for years" about Omar and, if proven true, she should face consequences.
"I would say first she should probably serve time in the gray bar motel and then get the hell out of here. She should go back to where she came from" if the allegations are proven to be true, Emmer said. "If it's determined that she lied to gain citizenship, then absolutely, she should go back to the front of the line."
REP ILHAN OMAR'S IMMIGRATION HISTORY FACES NEW SCRUTINY AS FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS SUBPOENA RELATIVES
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., called for Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to face consequences if the federal probe into her immigration proves wrongdoing. Omar has criticized the probe as political. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Omar is a member of the House "Squad," a far-left clique that includes Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
FEDERAL AGENTS RAID ILHAN OMAR’S DC HOME AMID IMMIGRATION FRAUD INVESTIGATION
Federal agents raided Omar's Washington, D.C., home earlier this week and took her cellphone and other possessions.
The allegations stem from her father becoming a U.S. citizen in 2000. Omar was believed to be 17 at the time, and as a minor was automatically qualified for citizenship under U.S. law along with him.
HOMAN CONFIRMS 'CRIMINAL' INVESTIGATION INVOLVING ILHAN OMAR, SAYS HE KNOWS 'THINGS ARE GOING ON’
But recently, it’s been alleged that she was actually 18 and would have needed to go through the process herself at that point.
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raided the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., early Monday morning. (Andrew Murray/Fox News Digital)
"I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is 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," Omar posted on X after the raid. "I will not be silenced."
Omar’s allies and other critics of the probe have called it an unprecedented action with less than three weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3.
Jeffries and his top deputies said in a joint statement that the raid was "deeply disturbing and raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries."
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is seeking another term in Minnesota’s heavily Democratic 5th Congressional District. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images)
Emmer argued it was not political. He said that the existence of a judicially authorized search warrant, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) said was being acted on, meant there was a reasonable basis to believe the allegations could be true.
"That judge had to determine that there was probable cause that a federal crime has been committed. And I'll tell you what, as long as it was Ilhan Omar, it was going to be scrutinized to the very detail," Emmer said. "So the fact that they issued the warrant in the first place and then executed it, I mean maybe after all these years, someone is finally going to hold Ilhan Omar accountable."
Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s congressional office for comment.
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Fox News Digital's Peter D'Abrosca contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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