US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has claimed that Democratic Rep.
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota married her brother as part of an effort to bring him into the United States, and said she could face deportation if federal investigators establish that she committed immigration fraud.
“We know that she married her brother to try to bring him to the United States,” Mullin said. Mullin made the allegation during an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, has not independently confirmed the details of the allegation. The allegation has circulated for years and has never been conclusively established through publicly available evidence. The long-running allegations have been examined by multiple news organizations and fact-checkers. Previous reviews found inconsistencies in the public record but did not establish that Elmi was Omar’s biological brother.
Omar has repeatedly denied that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the man she legally married in 2009, was her brother. Omar told MPR News in 2016 that suggestions Elmi was her brother were “absurd and offensive. Omar and Elmi legally married in February 2009, according to marriage records cited by the Minnesota Star Tribune . She later legally married Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in 2018 after her marriage to Elmi ended.
Mullin said investigators were examining Omar’s family migration history and whether there was illegal activity connected to her arrival in the United States. “There may be more to this, the whole family migration and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with,” he said. He also said that if investigators prove someone lied on an immigration application and establish that the person should not have been admitted to the US, there is no expiration date preventing authorities from taking action. A DHS spokesperson told JNS that the agency does not comment on specific ongoing investigations or potential future actions.
Earlier reporting found discrepancies and unanswered questions surrounding Omar’s marriages, addresses and tax records, but those findings did not prove that Elmi was her biological brother.
Omar became a naturalized US citizen in 2000, when she was 17. Under US law, a person convicted of knowingly entering a marriage to evade immigration laws can face up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. The legal consequences of any immigration fraud finding would depend on what investigators establish and what legal action the government ultimately takes. Marriage fraud is a federal crime.
Mullin said the matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation and suggested authorities could pursue deportation if they determine Omar obtained US immigration status through fraud. Mullin said deportation could be considered if the federal investigation establishes that Omar committed immigration fraud or should never have been admitted to the United States.
