Former President Barack Obama condemned remarks by Tom Homan, the Trump administration's "border czar," who said Saturday that federal investigators could "of course" strip Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., of her citizenship and deport her, as a widening inquiry into the congresswoman's naturalization intensifies weeks before the midterm elections.
Asked on Fox News whether the investigation into Omar could lead to "denaturalizing and then deporting her," Homan answered: "Of course." He added: "If you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody. We've done it before. It's a long, tedious process, but it's been done before. And certainly, if the evidence points that way, that could happen." It was the first time a named, senior administration official had explicitly tied denaturalization to Omar's case since federal agents raided her Minnesota home on October 12, seizing her phone and personal records.
"There's No Reason to Believe It Will Stop With Her"
Obama posted on X Sunday that "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," urging Americans of all political views to defend Omar.
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.
Barack Obama, former US president, in a post on X
Obama laid out the government's apparent theory: Omar arrived in the US with her father at age 12 and became a citizen five years later, at 17, when he was naturalized — a route that would not have been available had she already turned 18. He called the suggestion that she was actually 18 at the time "unsubstantiated" and said agents had raided her home "to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago."
Omar, a naturalized US citizen born in Somalia, has denied accusations from Trump-aligned figures that she obtained citizenship fraudulently; her attorneys have said the Justice Department's search may have violated internal policy against actions that could influence an election. Homan suggested Sunday that investigators were also examining other, undisclosed allegations against her, telling Fox News, "I'm not going to go there... that's a question for the FBI."
The case fits a broader pattern: the Justice Department has been pursuing dozens of denaturalization cases nationwide against Americans born abroad, and had identified nearly 400 foreign-born citizens for potential investigation as of this spring, according to court filings reviewed by the Guardian. Trump has for years attacked Omar personally, and at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, hours after the October 12 search he called her "a disaster" as supporters chanted "deport." Omar, who is on the ballot in Minnesota's fifth district this November, has called the probe "the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation."
