Rep Ilhan Omar's staffers changed her birth year after she entered Congress to make her appear younger: report

When Ilhan Omar entered Congress in 2018, her staff helped get her birthdate switched from 1981 to 1982 in public records, a move that has raised questions about whether she misrepresented her age to secure US citizenship. Omar has claimed that she became a naturalized citizen in 2000 through her father at the age of 17, however, if she was 18 at the time, she would not have been able to get citizenship through this pathway.

While Omar served in the state House and for several months into her congressional term, her birthdate had been listed in the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, in addition to reference sites like Wikipedia and news outlets like the BBC, as Oct. 4, 1981. In May of 2019, her birthday was shifted forward one year after a video by a political opponent went viral in which he claimed she was lying about her age, per the New York Post. This seemingly minor issue could have a major impact on her claims to US citizenship.

An email reviewed by the outlet from the director of the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library just days after the change was made stated, “On May 17, 2019, Library staff were informed by Rep. Omar’s congressional staff that her birth year was incorrect and requested that we change it to 1982.” The email added, “Rep. Omar’s congressional staff are working with Wikipedia and with the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and other sources to correct her birth year on those sites. As of today, the birth year has not been corrected on the two sites I mentioned.”

Omar has long maintained that she received derivative citizenship through her father and became a naturalized citizen in 2000. She claimed in 2018 that she became a citizen before the age of 18 through her father. Omar lived in refugee camps after the Somali government in which her father was a high-ranking official collapsed amid civil war. She then emigrated to the US.

AJ Kern, who ran against Omar in the 2022 House Democratic primary for Minnesota’s Fifth District, told the outlet that Omar “claims her citizenship narrative is that she derived citizenship through her father when she was a 17-year-old minor.” Kern added, “For derivative citizenship, two things have to be true — one, her father had to naturalize; and two, she still had to be a minor — and what I have found is that it’s highly likely that neither of those things are true.”

If Omar lied about her birthdate on official forms and continued to use a falsified birthdate, she could be prosecuted. Omar’s DC home was raided on Monday, with people familiar with the matter saying that the most likely cause for investigation may have to do with Omar's immigration records.