Omar's Lawyers Say Agents Ignored Judge's Limits on Her Home Search

Attorneys for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) have accused federal authorities of violating conditions a magistrate judge set before agents searched her Washington, D.C. residence, and are demanding the return of property seized from the home, according to a letter reported by news outlets this week.

Homeland Security Investigations agents, working with the Department of Justice, searched Omar's Northeast Washington home early on Monday, October 12, 2026, at around 6 a.m., as part of a criminal investigation into alleged immigration fraud, multiple outlets reported.

What the warrant was supposed to require

U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh had imposed specific limits on the search intended to protect materials covered by the Constitution's speech-and-debate clause, which shields lawmakers' legislative work from certain law-enforcement actions, according to reporting on the letter from Omar's attorneys.

• Provide Omar's lawyers with a copy of the warrant
• Have prosecutors contact the House Office of General Counsel before executing the search
• Advise Omar of her speech-and-debate protections and ask whether she would waive them

What Omar's lawyers allege happened instead

Attorneys Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz wrote that agents did not provide a warrant copy to Omar's legal team, did not contact the House counsel's office beforehand, and blocked Omar from reaching her lawyers for more than an hour after the search began. They also said the timing violated Justice Department policy that discourages public investigative steps against political candidates within 60 days of an election, according to the reported letter.

The lawyers said agents removed boxes of documents along with Omar's cellphone and passport, and that prosecutors have since issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas to her relatives.

The government's response

Justice Department spokesperson Emily Covington rejected the lawyers' letter, calling it inaccurate and saying federal attorneys and law enforcement had complied with all court orders and legal obligations. The department's response also characterized the public release of the letter as a publicity move rather than a good-faith legal filing, according to the reporting.

White House border czar Tom Homan said on October 18 that federal investigators have a strong case against Omar, according to reporting on his comments.

Political reaction

House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar said the search raised concerns about the federal government being used for political purposes. Former President Barack Obama also criticized the administration's handling of the case in a social media post, saying the government should not single out individuals over their political views and linking the scrutiny to Omar's criticism of President Trump.

Omar's congressional office called the search an abuse of power, and Omar said on social media that she intended to keep speaking out, describing the action as an attempt to target a political opponent. She has not been charged with a crime and denies wrongdoing.

Background: what the immigration probe is about

Homeland Security Investigations is examining whether immigration paperwork filed decades ago, when Omar was a child and the forms were completed by her late father, contained false statements used to obtain legal status and later U.S. citizenship, according to reporting on the case. Omar became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000.

A similar review during the first Trump administration in 2019 looked at the same underlying questions but found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to warrant a full investigation, according to reports citing people familiar with that earlier inquiry.