Ilhan Omar’s dad, Nur Omar Mohamed, has no official record of being a naturalized US citizen, according to documents obtained by a Minnesota activist in 2023 — undermining Omar’s legal claim to citizenship by way of family relations.
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dad → have → relations
The documents show that a US Citizenship and Immigration Services information officer conducted a “diligent search” but found “no record” relating to Nur Omar Mohamed or other variants of his name such as Nur Said Elmi Mohamed.
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officer → show → Mohamed
AJ Kern, who ran against Omar in a 2022 Democratic primary, had requested information about the father’s citizenship status during her run for Congress but only received an answer back in September 2023.
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who → run → September
The disclosure complicates claims that Omar became a citizen as a 17-year-old in 2000, when she has said that her father became a naturalized citizen.
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father → complicate → 2000
“She was claiming derivative citizenship,” Kern told The Post in a phone interview Tuesday, before claiming that Omar may have lied about her age to do so and could have been 18 years old at the time.
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Omar → claim → time
State and federal forms to run for Congress rely on candidates attesting to their citizenship status under penalty of perjury, and Omar has repeatedly stated that she is a US citizen.
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she → run → perjury
One of the documents obtained by Kern shows a June 2018 affidavit of candidacy, signed by Omar and submitted to the Minnesota secretary of state’s office, that affirms the Minnesota Democrat was “a citizen of the United States.”
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Democrat → obtain → States
“I was born in Somalia and I was about 8 years old when the civil war happened and then we fled and lived in a refugee camp for four years in Kenya,” Omar told The Intercept months later in a September 2018 interview.
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Omar → bear → interview
“And so, we lived in that refugee camp in Mombasa, Kenya for four years and then in 1995 got the opportunity to resettle here in the U.S. and I actually started out in Arlington, Virginia, so not that far away from Capitol Hill, and then eventually moved to Minnesota when I started high school,” she added.
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she → live → school
Omar also said: “I became a citizen actually before I turned 18.
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I → say → 18
My father became a citizen and so I got my citizenship through that process.”
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I → become → process
Kern thinks the current system, however, doesn’t have enough safeguards, especially for foreign-born individuals who subsequently run for federal office.
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who → think → office
“In the refugee program, they obtain a Social Security number fairly soon after they enter the country; eventually, they go and obtain a driver’s license,” she explained.
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she → obtain → license
“So Ilhan Omar as a child obtained a Social Security number.
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Omar → obtain → number
Then when she became of driving age, she went in and she obtained a driver’s license, and at the same time she registered to vote,” she continued.
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she → become → time
“And what we know in Minnesota is they are not verifying citizenship … so it’s very easy when you have a Social Security number, a driver’s license, and you’re registered to vote to say, ‘Yeah, I’m a citizen.’
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I → know → number
And nobody can check it.
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nobody → check → it
No one, no one can do anything about it,” Kern added.
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Kern → do → it
When pressed about her date of birth in the past, Omar has never produced a certificate and her campaign told the Associated Press in 2018 that’s “because the infrastructure in Somalia collapsed during a civil war that displaced over 2 million Somalis.”
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that → press → Somalis
A rep for her office added Monday: “The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong.
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Congresswoman → add → nothing
No president should be able to use the power of the federal government to intimidate his political enemies.”
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president → use → enemies
Omar has served in Congress since January 2019, but on Monday, Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant on her DC residence.
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agents → serve → residence
Agents were seen exiting the bungalow with boxes of evidence and loading them into government vehicles.
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Agents → see → vehicles
People familiar with the years-long criminal investigation into the congresswoman said that it concerned allegedly false statements Omar may have made on immigration papers, with one indicating that the probe hinged on whether she was ineligible for citizenship.
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she → say → citizenship
Asked why agents executed a search warrant, Kern suggested it’s “because they probably don’t have a record of her father naturalizing, and they probably don’t have a record of her citizenship.”
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they → ask → citizenship
Border czar Tom Homan and a Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed that the search warrant was signed by a federal judge in DC, implying the jurist in the liberal-leaning jurisdiction must’ve been convinced there was a good chance evidence of the crime could be found in her home.
In a statement on X, Omar called the raid “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.”
“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns.
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Trump → confirm → lies
I will not be silenced,” she vowed.
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she → silence → ?
Kern first drew public attention to the discrepancy surrounding Omar’s father’s naturalization records, as well as the congresswoman’s own staff asking online recordkeepers to change her birthdate from Oct. 4, 1981, to Oct. 4, 1982, prompting a Federal Election Commission complaint.
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staff → draw → complaint
Before challenging Omar, Kern was runner-up to Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota’s Sixth District in GOP primaries for 2016 and 2018.
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Kern → challenge → 2016
She told The Post Tuesday she identified as a “conservative.”
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she → tell → conservative
Reps for Omar’s office did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
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Reps → respond → comment
Neither did DHS nor DOJ.
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DHS → do → ?
The Aporia
