Federal investigators uncovered evidence in 2016 suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar entered a sham marriage with a man believed to be her brother, according to reports. The case involving the Minnesota Democrat ultimately stalled after prosecutors determined that any potential offense fell outside the five-year statute of limitations.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigation into Omar’s marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi was first reported by The New York Times and later confirmed by The Post. A source familiar with the inquiry said the “Biden US Attorney in Minnesota shut it down” soon after taking office in 2021.
The precise evidence investigators uncovered concerning Omar’s marriage to Elmi remains unclear.
At the time the investigation began, Omar was seeking a seat in Minnesota’s legislature. She has repeatedly denied allegations that she married her brother to help him obtain a green card, describing them as a racist conspiracy theory promoted by the far right.
The Post reported Wednesday that Elmi moved in with Omar and her first husband, Ahmed Hirsi, in Minnesota in 2009. A friend of Hirsi characterized Elmi as an “extremely feminine Somali guy” who “was walking around in tight female clothing, which is heavily frowned upon in the Somali community.”
When the friend asked Hirsi about Elmi, he said Omar’s former husband described him as his wife’s brother from London and complained that Ilhan had “embarrassed all of us by bringing him here.” Hirsi reportedly used “very strong words” and called the situation “disgusting.”
“All of the Somalis in Minneapolis were gossiping and trying to find out who this guy was,” the friend told The Post. “Then everyone realized it was … Ilhan’s brother. Everybody was shocked … [Hirsi] explained that she had married him legally to get him papers and that [Hirsi] was only Islamically married to her.”
The friend also said that “Ahmed and Ilhan used to argue over her brother all the time” and that he witnessed the pair “arguing and shouting in public.”
According to the source, Elmi left Minnesota around 2012. Afterward, Hirsi “praised God for taking him away from his family.”
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Earlier this month, federal agents searched the Washington, DC, home Omar shares with her current husband, Tim Mynett. They seized her cellphone, notebooks, personal computers and passport.
Sources told The Post that investigators are examining whether Omar was involved in a broader family conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Such a finding could potentially result in denaturalization and deportation.
Omar has long said she became a US citizen at age 17, when her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, was naturalized in 2000.
Some records identify Omar’s birthdate as Oct. 4, 1981, while others list the same date in 1982. If the 1981 date is correct, she would have been legally an adult when her father became a citizen and therefore would not have qualified for citizenship through the minor-child provision.
Criminal prosecution for alleged immigration fraud is generally possible only when the conduct occurred within the previous 10 years. Alleged false statements to government officials are subject to a five-year statute of limitations.
Civil denaturalization proceedings do not face a comparable statute of limitations. President Trump’s DOJ has pursued a record number of such cases, filing nearly 200 since the start of his second term in January 2025.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Homeland Security Investigations officials received information during the Biden administration about possible alterations to Omar’s birthdate. Officials reportedly declined to proceed because they lacked sufficient evidence.
The Post reported that, in spring 2019, after Omar was elected to the House of Representatives, her staff urged the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and Wikipedia to list her birth year as 1982 instead of 1981.
The previous fall, Omar’s campaign told the Associated Press that she did not possess a birth certificate because her family had been displaced by Somalia’s prolonged civil war.
Additional reporting by Kamal Sultan