Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington-area home on Monday. The Justice Department said Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant, adding that “this enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
Sources told Fox News Digital the probe centers on immigration paperwork completed by Omar’s late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, who served for more than two decades as an officer in Somali dictator Siad Barre’s army.
In March 2026, Vice President JD Vance said he believed Omar had committed immigration fraud. Omar has denied the accusations, and her chief of staff, Connor McNutt, called the claim a “ridiculous lie.”
Mohamed was born in Bandarbeyla, a coastal town in northeastern Somalia, and grew up in Mogadishu, according to his 2020 Sahan Journal obituary. A former army comrade who had known him since the early 1970s said he joined the Somali National Army after military training in Russia and rose to colonel. During the 1977–1978 war with Ethiopia, he commanded a regiment and was recognized for his service.
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He may have served under a different name. A former Somali army general told the Daily Mail in December 2025 that Nur used the name Nur Said and enlisted in 1966. Snopes reported some evidence supporting claims that his full name was Nur Said Mohamed Elmi. In March 2026, Somaliland’s government identified him as Nur Said Elmi and said the family used multiple names in different countries.
Former generals who served alongside Nur described his career to the Daily Mail anonymously, citing fear of reprisals. Their accounts included training in Egypt, service in air defense and infantry units, postings in Mogadishu and Garbahaarrey, and a transfer to Hargeisa in 1984. Garbahaarrey was Barre’s southwestern hometown and a military hub; Hargeisa was the north’s main city.