Rep. Ilhan Omar’s colleagues on the Foreign Affairs Committee are raising red flags that her questionable citizenship could have compromised national security.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast of Florida said he and other Republicans’ fears about Ms. Omar’s access to classified materials have been compounded now that federal investigators are scrutinizing her immigration records.
Mr. Mast said that when Ms. Omar was ousted from the panel in 2023 for making antisemitic remarks, there were “absolutely” concerns about her access to classified material.
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The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Omar, Minnesota Democrat.
Ms. Omar was born in Somalia. She came to the U.S. in 1995, when she is said to have been 12 years old. She became a naturalized American citizen in 2000.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican on the committee, said that if Ms. Omar lied about key details in her immigration documents, “what else has she lied about?”
“There needs to be a full, thorough and swift investigation, especially given her access to classified information as a member of Congress,” he said. “If it’s proven she married her brother and defrauded our immigration system, she needs to be immediately removed from Congress.”
Mr. Mast said he has been pushing for a new requirement that Congress members obtain security clearances before getting access to government secrets. “Members of Congress are given access, but they are not vetted. Being elected is not the same thing as being vetted,” he said.
“Members of Congress do not get a security clearance like when I was in the military, and we fill out an SF86 with 100 pages about where we’ve lived, where we’ve worked, where we’ve gone to school, and people that have known us at all of those places,” he said. “An investigator goes around and talks to all of those people.”
Republican lawmakers are now waiting for the results of the investigation, with some talking about possibly expelling Ms. Omar from Congress or other penalties.
Rep. Keith Self, a Texas Republican on the committee, said Ms. Omar could even face prosecution for a national security breach.
“As a Member of Congress, Ilhan Omar would not necessarily be required to undergo a standard background check, but she could be subject to prosecution for illegally obtaining access to classified information and for misrepresentation when signing official government documents.”
Whatever penalties await Ms. Omar if her citizenship is revoked, House Republicans will likely move to expel her from Congress.
“If the evidence shows that she is illegally in the country and not a citizen, and she is illegally serving as a U.S. Congress member, lawmakers should do everything in our power to remove her from Congress and remove her from our country,” said GOP Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas.
Mr. Self added that the expulsion of GOP Rep. George Santos in 2023 without a felony conviction set a new precedent for ejecting lawmakers from the chamber.
“We can do that. And, frankly, I think that’s probably the more likely route,” he said.
The Constitution requires members of Congress to be U.S. citizens in Article I, Section 2, Clause 2, and a representative must have been a citizen for at least seven years.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington led a letter signed by 175 House Democrats condemning the federal investigation of Ms. Omar.
However, 40 House Democrats, most of whom represent frontline districts, declined to sign the letter defending the Minnesota Democrat, whose deep blue district has not been represented by a Republican since 1963.
Federal authorities are scrutinizing how the Minnesota Democrat obtained citizenship after arriving in the U.S.
Investigators are looking into the actions of both Ms. Omar and her deceased father, who was from Somalia and brought her to the U.S. from a refugee camp in Kenya.
The scope of the investigation into Ms. Omar is unclear after federal agents raided her home in the District of Columbia, seizing her cellphone, personal computers, notebooks and her passport.
Ms. Omar has been dogged for years by allegations she married her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, in 2009 to secure immigration benefits. She has denied those claims.
Ms. Omar and Mr. Elmi separated in 2011 under what she called a Muslim “faith tradition,” but they did not formally divorce until 2017.
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