The administration of US President Donald Trump is investigating Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with a view to revoking her citizenship and eventually deporting her, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter.
The inquiry centres partly on how the Minnesota representative obtained citizenship after arriving in the US as a refugee from Somalia. Authorities are examining her family’s immigration records and have issued more than a dozen subpoenas, including to some relatives, seeking testimony before a grand jury in Minnesota, the paper said.
Omar’s office dismissed the investigation as baseless in remarks to the Journal.
The report comes days after federal agents raided the congresswoman’s home, which her office called an “unprecedented escalation” by the administration against its political opponents. The Department of Homeland Security said the raid was part of “an ongoing federal investigation”. Agents took Omar’s passport, mobile phone, personal computers and notebooks, according to people familiar with the search.
The search came weeks before the November 3 midterm elections. Omar is seeking a fifth term representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district.
She arrived in the US in 1995 after living in a refugee camp in Kenya and became a citizen in 2000. She has previously denied committing immigration fraud.
