Ilhan Omar probe: her lawyers demand her seized property back as the DHS secretary calls it a strong case

Lawyers for the Minnesota Democrat wrote to federal prosecutors on Friday demanding the return of property seized when agents searched her Washington home on Monday. “This search was neither justified nor lawful,” they wrote.

— Ilhan Omar’s lawyers

They say agents did not give them the warrant in advance or contact the House’s Office of General Counsel, as a magistrate judge had instructed. The Justice Department called the letter “riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies”.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said multiple other warrants were served the same day and that investigators expect to take the case to a grand jury. He suggested coordinated immigration fraud could be prosecuted under the racketeering law, RICO.

Omar has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing; she calls the probe politically motivated. She became a US citizen in 2000 after fleeing Somalia as a child, and a 2019 inquiry into her immigration history found insufficient evidence for a full investigation.