Barack Obama Says Trump Is Trying to Deport Ilhan Omar for Criticising Him After Federal Agents Raid Her Home

Barack Obama has accused the Trump administration of trying to deport Ilhan Omar as punishment for criticising the president. His intervention comes less than a week after federal agents searched the Minnesota congresswoman's home in Washington.

In a post on X on Sunday, 18 October, the former president argued that the case against Omar was driven by politics rather than evidence. 'The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president,' he wrote.

The post had accumulated more than six million views at the time of writing. It comes just over two weeks before the 3 November midterm elections, in which Omar is seeking another term representing Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, which includes Minneapolis.

Obama Says the Case Hinges on Omar's Age

Obama built his argument around Omar's age when her father became an American citizen. He said she arrived in the United States with her father at 12 and acquired citizenship at 17 after he naturalised five years later.

'If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately,' Obama wrote. He said the administration was seeking to deport her, 'seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen'.

He also said agents had confiscated personal records and seized Omar's phone 'all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case'. Omar has said she became a US citizen in 2000.

Obama compared the inquiry with actions taken against the New York attorney general, a former FBI director and members of the Federal Reserve. In those cases, he wrote, the prosecutions 'either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law'.

His account characterises the administration's motives and the strength of its case. The Justice Department has not publicly detailed the evidence underlying the investigation.

Investigators Are Examining Decades-Old Paperwork

Three people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that investigators were examining whether Omar or her late father had provided false information on immigration documents to secure her legal status and eventual citizenship.

One of those people said the Department of Homeland Security had declined to pursue an investigation into similar allegations years earlier.

The reported focus on Omar's age concerns whether she qualified to acquire citizenship through her father. The legal requirements applicable before February 2001 involved conditions beyond age alone, so Obama's explanation is not a complete account of the governing law.

No criminal charges against Omar have been announced.

Omar Denies Wrongdoing as Trump Rejects Involvement

Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar's home on Monday, 12 October, executing a judicially authorised warrant. The Justice Department described the search as 'part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation'.

Omar's office said she had 'done nothing wrong' and called the search an 'outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies'.

Trump, meanwhile, told reporters he 'had nothing to do with' the search.

Democratic congressional leaders also criticised the action. House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar joined a leadership statement describing it as 'deeply disturbing'.

Citizenship Proceedings Would Be Separate From Deportation

Any effort to revoke citizenship would require court proceedings. The search itself does not change Omar's citizenship status, and even a successful revocation would not automatically result in deportation.

TIME reported on 14 October that the Justice Department had announced efforts to revoke at least 108 people's citizenship that year. That figure concerns announced efforts, rather than completed revocations.

The investigation concerns paperwork dating back to Omar's youth, but the government has not publicly presented a completed case against her. Any allegations would have to be established through the relevant legal process.

Obama framed the stakes beyond party lines, warning that political targeting could become a precedent for future administrations.

'Because if this becomes the new normal, there's no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won't do the same,' he wrote.