WASHINGTON INFORMER — Federal agents searched the D.C.-area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Monday, 22 days before Election Day. This extraordinary step involved executing a criminal search warrant against a sitting member of Congress.
By BlackPressUSA Newswire
Advocates and advocacy organizations are speaking out after federal agents searched the D.C.-area home of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar. \
Federal agents searched the D.C.-area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Monday, taking the extraordinary step of executing a criminal search warrant against a sitting member of Congress just 22 days before Election Day, as the Trump administration investigates allegations involving her family’s immigration records.
The search immediately drew accusations of political intimidation from Omar’s supporters, who pointed to President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the Minnesota congresswoman and questioned the timing of an investigation targeting one of his most outspoken critics.
“Representative Omar is a dedicated public servant and a true ally for working families, and Donald Trump has done nothing but use racist tropes and stereotypes to attack her,” said Joel Payne, MoveOn’s chief communications officer. “Now, he’s abusing his power to physically intimidate and harass her.”
A Justice Department spokeswoman acknowledged that Homeland Security Investigations agents, part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, searched a District residence as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.
The spokeswoman declined to provide additional information or publicly identify the person under investigation.
According to published reports, the warrant identified possible violations involving false statements, immigration document fraud and conspiracy. Federal investigators have also examined questions concerning Omar’s finances, campaign funds and interactions with foreign citizens.
No criminal charges against the congresswoman were identified, but Monday’s search occurred less than four weeks before voters decided whether to return Omar to Congress.
The investigation follows months of public accusations from senior Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, who previously claimed that Omar committed immigration fraud.
In an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Vance asserted, without publicly presenting evidence, that the administration believed Omar had broken immigration laws. He also said he and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller had discussed how to pursue the allegations.
“What are the legal remedies now that we know that she’s committed immigration fraud?” Vance asked during the interview. “How do you go after her? How do you investigate her?”
Omar has repeatedly rejected the accusations, including claims that she married her brother to facilitate immigration fraud. Her office dismissed Vance’s allegations in March as fabricated and defamatory.
Questions about the investigation intensified in August when Immigration and Customs Enforcement refused to release records sought under the Freedom of Information Act concerning allegations surrounding Omar’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
The agency cited an exemption allowing law enforcement authorities to withhold records when disclosure could interfere with enforcement proceedings. The refusal did not establish that Omar committed fraud or, at the time, confirmed that she was personally under investigation.
Omar, who came to the United States as a refugee from Somalia, was elected to Congress in 2018 and became one of the first two Muslim women to serve in the House. She represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, which includes Minneapolis, and has frequently challenged Trump over immigration enforcement, civil rights, and his administration’s treatment of immigrant communities.
Her confrontations with the administration have made her a recurring target of the president’s political attacks. The criminal investigation also follows a frightening incident earlier this year in which Omar was physically attacked during a public appearance.
On Jan. 27, a man attacked Omar during a town hall meeting at the National Urban League’s Twin Cities headquarters in Minneapolis. The incident prompted condemnation from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and its Black Women’s Roundtable, which demanded accountability and warned against political violence.
“We are shocked and extremely disturbed by the attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar yesterday while she attempted to address the critical issues and chaos swirling around in Minneapolis,” Melanie L. Campbell, president and CEO of the coalition and national convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable, said in a Jan. 28 statement.
Campbell praised Omar for continuing to speak out despite threats against her.
“We believe that NO public official should be threatened or physically attacked, especially when they are serving in the best interests of their constituents,” Campbell said. “Political violence and intimidation have no place in our democracy.”
MoveOn, the progressive advocacy organization, accused Trump of using federal law enforcement to intimidate a political opponent and urged voters to respond at the ballot box.
“On Nov. 3rd, we get our chance to fight back and hold him and his corrupt administration accountable,” Payne said.
Based on reporting by Washington Informer.
“During that time, more than a quarter of the funds that we gave folks was going to groceries,” Gruenfeld said.
Several New Orleans city government officials are now weighing a program modeled on Michigan’s Rx Kids, which a study credits with nearly halving neonatal deaths in Flint, one of the poorest cities in the state.
“We are seeing policies pushed by the political will of predominantly Black women come into effect, and then also the backlash,” says Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice Action Fund, a nonprofit advocacy organization. “In Michigan, we have Rx Kids, which is extremely popular [and] the data on the impact is undeniable.”
But recent changes are endangering the success of such programs, particularly amid President Donald Trump’s hostility towards programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We’re getting this pushback around identifying race and parental status as systemic areas of oppression,” Atkinson says. It remains to be seen, she says, “whether or not we are going to be able to prevail with the political power and the popular will of these issues, or the rhetoric and the history of racism in our country.”
Washington Looks Elsewhere
That includes the Republican-controlled Congress, which has shown little appetite for cash aid tied to pregnancy.
The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, which Booker reintroduced along with Democratic Reps. Lauren Underwood of Illinois and Alma Adams of North Carolina, bundles 14 bills on housing, nutrition, WIC and the perinatal workforce, but not direct cash.
Still, signs suggest the issue – providing cash aid to low-income mothers and their babies – may stay on the front burner as the midterm elections approach in November.
This month, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, both Democrats, hosted a Black maternal health roundtable in Detroit. Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice took part.
“Black mamas deserve access to quality healthcare that sees us, listens to us, and understands us at every step of the way,” Atkinson said afterward. “The responsibilities we carry do not end at pregnancy, nor do they disappear when we give birth and want to spend time with our newborn. They stay with us throughout all that we experience.”
Based on reporting by Louisiana Weekly.
Powered by WPeMatico
- BlackPress USA
- BlackPress USA
- BlackPress USA
- BlackPress USA
