The former president who once produced his own Hawaii birth records to quiet doubts about his citizenship has stepped into a fight over another Democrat’s.
Barack Obama condemned the Trump administration’s investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as “appalling” in a lengthy post on X on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, accusing the federal government of trying to intimidate and deport one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics.
Singling people out for their political views breaks “a basic principle of American democracy,” Obama wrote, and he accused the administration of doing exactly that to Omar.
In his telling, Washington is turning its “full weight” on a law-abiding lawmaker for the offense of criticizing the president, he wrote.
A Year That Decides Her Citizenship
Omar fled Somalia’s civil war as a child, spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp and arrived in the U.S. with her father in 1995, at age 12. He was naturalized in 2000, when records indicate she was 17 — under 18, and therefore a citizen through his naturalization. Under U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rules, a child born abroad automatically becomes a citizen if that child is under 18, has at least one citizen parent, and is a lawful permanent resident in that parent’s custody.
Investigators are examining whether her father lied about her age, and are reportedly seeking evidence she was a year older. Similar allegations were reviewed in 2019 without action.
“Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen,” Obama continued. He added that agents had raided her home and taken her records and phone in pursuit of what he called a “nonexistent smoking gun.”
Her Lawyers Want the Passport Back
Days before Obama weighed in, agents had gone through Omar’s Washington, D.C., home in an immigration fraud investigation and left with her phone, computers, notebooks and passport. The search, on Monday, Oct. 12, fell on the Columbus Day federal holiday, alarming Justice Department veterans because of how close it came to the midterm elections. The department generally avoids overt investigative steps within 60 days of an election. Omar is running for reelection in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, and the search landed less than a month before voting ends.
Her lawyers demanded the return of her property in a letter sent Friday, Oct. 16, arguing that the seizure violated restrictions a judge had imposed to protect her work as a federal lawmaker. They also alleged that agents never notified Omar or the House general counsel of the search and kept her from reaching her attorney for more than an hour.
No charges have been filed against Omar, and the Justice Department has made no evidence public. Federal officials have cited possible charges of conspiracy and making false statements in immigration paperwork, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Should prosecutors move to denaturalize her, they would have to prove material lies in the naturalization process.
Homan Was Told the Case Is Strong
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told Fox News he had been told the government’s case against Omar is strong and that officials would follow the evidence. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office is also examining Omar’s financial disclosures. Trump has kept his distance from the search, telling reporters the Justice Department handled it, not him, though earlier this year he posted on Truth Social that he wanted Omar sent back to Somalia.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in an emailed statement to the BBC, “Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump has not weaponized the Department of Justice against his political foes.” The department, she added, is focused on restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.
Obama pointed to the administration’s earlier legal pursuits of critics — New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook and former FBI Director James Comey — and said those prosecutions stalled or were tossed out for having no basis in law. He predicted the same ending here, but only after Omar’s legal bills pile up and her time goes to fighting the case instead of to the people she represents.
Omar, the first Somali-American legislator elected to public office in the U.S., has been in Congress since 2019 and was stripped of her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Republicans in 2023 over comments and tweets about Israel. She has said Trump has targeted her for years, and she has called the immigration allegation a witch hunt built on lies. “I will not be silenced,” she wrote on X.
Omar has since said she will move out of her Washington home for safety. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said in a TV interview on Wednesday, Oct. 21, adding that agents arrived around 6 a.m., searched for four to five hours and took 17 items, Al Jazeera reported.
