Text messages recovered from the cellphone of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s sister prompted federal investigators to seek a search warrant for the Minnesota Democrat’s Washington, D.C., home as part of an investigation into possible immigration fraud involving her family, according to a new report from The New York Post.
Federal agents seized the phone of Sahra Noor earlier this year while investigating whether Omar, who was born in Somalia, and members of her family made false statements when entering the United States, three people familiar with the investigation told the New York Times. The messages reportedly helped investigators obtain a warrant from a federal judge before Department of Homeland Security agents searched Omar’s residence Monday, seizing her cellphone, passport, notebooks and personal computers.
Noor, who now lives in Kenya, canceled a Thursday appearance in Rochester, Minnesota, where she was scheduled to promote her book, Salt in the Snow: A Somali Immigrant Story. She cited a “family emergency” as news of the federal investigation emerged.
🚨 UPDATE: Federal agents SEIZED Ilhan Omar's sister's phone and used family text messages to help get a judge to sign off on the raid of her home, and the case is being built to prove she CONSPIRED to commit immigration fraud — NYT
BOOM.
The phone belonged to her sister Sahra… pic.twitter.com/FwLi5vf29k
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 17, 2026
Investigators also reportedly searched through discarded trash outside Omar’s home in an effort to collect DNA evidence before the raid, according to NewsNation. Former FBI special agent Tracy Walder said the technique was a relatively simple way to obtain genetic material. “To me, if they are obviously trying to obtain DNA, then, yes, that is a very easy get, especially if it was discarded even in a trash can.”
Federal prosecutors are expected to present evidence to a grand jury in Minnesota to determine whether Omar or members of her family made false statements about their identities or backgrounds when they immigrated to the United States in 1995. Investigators have already issued subpoenas to multiple relatives, although no criminal charges have been announced.
Omar and her family arrived in the United States as refugees following Somalia’s civil war. Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, served as a high-ranking colonel under Somali dictator Siad Barre, whose regime has been blamed for an estimated 200,000 deaths. Previous reports have raised questions about whether Mohamed accurately represented his identity during the immigration process. Omar has said she became an American citizen in 2000, at age 17, through her father.
Omar’s office has rejected the investigation as politically motivated, accusing President Donald Trump of using federal law enforcement to target a longtime political opponent. Asked about the seizure of Noor’s phone, spokeswoman Jackie Rogers declined to address the evidence described in the report.
“Trump has spread lie after lie about the congresswoman in a desperate attempt to justify his extraordinary abuse of power,” Rogers told the New York Times. She added, “This is politically motivated and an escalation of Trump’s personal vendetta against her lasting over a decade.”
The investigation, which was started during the Biden administration, remains ongoing, with federal authorities examining evidence gathered during the raid and preparing for possible grand jury proceedings.
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