Case against Ilhan Omar includes DNA, passport, messages from her sister: Tom Homan says the government has a 'strong case'

The federal investigation into Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar continues to move forward, with prosecutors possessing — in addition to immigration records and witness testimony — DNA evidence, the lawmaker's personal passport that agents seized from her home and family text messages obtained from one of her sisters' phones.

According to sources cited by The New York Post, the DNA is said to be key to testing the oldest allegation against Omar, which has been circulating since 2016.

That account alleges that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, whom she married in 2009, was actually her brother, and that the marriage was intended to help him obtain permanent residency in the United States. It is unclear at this time when or how the sample was obtained. NewsNation reported that agents searched the congresswoman's trash prior to the raid, but one of the NYP's sources refuted that account.

The Trump administration appears confident about the case. The border czar, Tom Homan, stated over the weekend that federal authorities have built "a strong case" against the lawmaker, which could lead the Trump administration to seek her denaturalization. It would be an unprecedented move against a sitting member of Congress and would likely draw criticism from the Democratic caucus.

The road to this point began quite far from Washington. According to The New York Times, investigators seized the phone of Sahra Noor, Omar's sister, earlier this year, and the messages found on it led a judge — appointed by the Democrats — to authorize the Oct. 12 search of the congresswoman's home in the capital. During that operation, agents from the National Security Investigations unit seized her phone, passport, computers and notebooks. The case is in the hands of a federal grand jury in Minnesota, which in recent days issued subpoenas to Noor and others associated with the congresswoman.

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In addition to her marriage to Elmi, sources consulted by the newspaper pointed to a possible alteration of Omar's date of birth so that she could obtain citizenship when her father became a naturalized citizen in 2000. The difference between the two paths is significant. A potential conviction for marriage fraud would not jeopardize her citizenship in the same way as a case involving false statements on official documents — which is the scenario that would open the door to the denaturalization Homan refers to.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro is investigating the congresswoman's finances, particularly a correction to her financial disclosure forms that reduced her net worth by tens of millions of dollars due to an unexplained accounting discrepancy.

"That judge would not have signed that warrant unless there was probable cause," Pirro told Fox News. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, also called that statement suspicious.

Omar's defense team, led by Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz, sent a letter to the Department of Justice demanding the return of all seized items. The attorneys argue that the agents did not comply with the conditions set by the judge for the search and that the operation violated the policy advising against such actions near an election.

They also assert that there is "no legitimate basis" for claiming that their client violated any law regarding her citizenship. The Department of Justice responded that the letter contains false allegations and that releasing it to the press "is a publicity play."

Omar has for years denied any irregularities in her immigration history. According to The Washington Post, the allegation regarding her marriage was already investigated during Trump's first term without sufficient evidence being found. To date, no formal charges have been filed against her.