DHS Sec Markwayne Mullin says Ilhan Omar investigation is ‘large’ case targeting multiple people

Mullin said agents who searched Omar’s Washington, DC, home in mid-October conducted extensive investigative work to present the case to the Department of Justice. Agents seized Omar’s phone and issued subpoenas to her relatives.

“This isn’t just a case that’s targeting one individual. This is a large case that we have presented to the DOJ, and the DOJ is leading the investigations,” Mullin told Fox News on Friday. “And I’ll just say this again: We’re enforcing our nation’s laws, and we’re going to do that. We’re not weaponizing. We’re not using political theater on this.”

Omar has faced scrutiny over allegations that she married her brother, Ahmed Elmi, to help him obtain US citizenship. When asked by MS Now if she had, in fact, married her brother, Omar replied, “Not to my knowledge.”

Investigators have also examined questions surrounding her age and immigration history. Omar identified her age as 17 years old at the time of her father’s naturalization, which granted her automatic citizenship for being a minor. However, there is speculation that she was actually 18 at the time.

A federal investigation into Omar’s immigration history first began during the Obama administration and was halted under President Biden. As Obama currently criticizes the current investigation as politically motivated, Mullin has argued that the federal government is working to adequately enforce immigration laws.

“I’ve made this very, very, very, very clear: we’re enforcing our nation’s laws across the board equally, and we’re going to continue to do that,” Mullin said. “I don’t care where you’re seated, and I don’t care how you’re registered to vote, I don’t care what your job title is. We use it equally.”

“We’re going to let the facts play out, we’re not playing politics with this — I said this from day one, we’re not playing politics with anybody’s lives,” Mullin added.