Former President Barack Obama has come to the defense of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar following a federal search of her home and warned that the same treatment could reach other Americans. According to The Guardian, Obama wrote in a post on X that “there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her,” and he urged people of every political view to back her. He argued that later presidents from either party could copy the approach.
The post followed comments by Tom Homan, the White House border czar. On Saturday, an interviewer on Fox News asked him whether the probe could lead to Omar being denaturalized and deported. “Of course,” Homan answered. He added that “there is a process to denaturalize somebody” who lied during naturalization, though he described it as long and tedious. He gave no details on possible other allegations, stating, “I know things, but that’s a question for the FBI.”
Obama stated that Omar moved to the United States alongside her father at 12. Five years on, her father completed his own naturalization, and she gained citizenship automatically because she was still a minor at 17. Anyone already 18 would have needed to file separately, which is why her age at that point is the focus of the allegations. Obama described the theory as unsubstantiated and wrote that agents are chasing “a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago.”
How denaturalization works
Denaturalization is a lengthy legal process. As Homan acknowledged, it involves a federal investigation followed by extended court proceedings. Reports indicate Justice Department officials have flagged about 400 foreign-born citizens for scrutiny this year. The paperwork now under review was completed by Omar’s father during her childhood, and he has since died. Under derivative citizenship, a minor can gain citizenship through a parent who naturalizes, so her exact birth date matters.
Criticism from Democrats began after federal agents searched Omar’s Washington home under a warrant that the Justice Department described as court-authorized. Omar denies any wrongdoing. Her attorneys wrote that there is “no legitimate basis” for suggesting she broke any law tied to her citizenship. They also accused the department of acting in a way that could sway an election, against its own long-standing internal policy.
Later reports indicate that agents seized Omar’s passport and phone, and that roughly a dozen subpoenas went out, including to relatives. No charges have been reported. Trump has stated that the matter is for the Justice Department to decide. Obama also pointed to earlier cases against other Trump critics, writing that those prosecutions “either stalled or were dismissed.”
He argued that, meanwhile, Omar faces mounting legal costs and has to spend time defending herself instead of serving her Minnesota constituents. Omar has called the search “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” She added, “I will not be silenced.” The search came about three weeks before the midterms, in which she is seeking another term.
Omar has stated that her family escaped the civil war in Somalia and later settled in the United States. Her lawyers state that she gained citizenship in 2000.
Published: Oct 19, 2026 12:21 pm