Rep. Ilhan Omar and other House Democrats accused the Trump administration of abusing its power by searching her home on Monday, just weeks before the midterm elections.
Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar’s home early Monday as part of a criminal investigation.
At noon, Omar posted on social media that she was “ok.”
“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation,” she said.
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“I will not be silenced,” she added.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar called the search “deeply disturbing” and said it raised questions about the “continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries.”
“For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations. Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family,” the Democratic leaders said in a statement.
A search of this kind is highly unusual this close to an election, and multiple other Democrats came to Omar’s defense.
“It is no accident that this raid comes three weeks before an election where Rep. Omar is on the ballot,” New York Rep. Yvette Clarke posted. “This is part of the fascist playbook to rile up his supporters in advance of the midterms.”
Illinois Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García called the raid on Omar’s home “an extreme abuse of power and an escalation of a years-long campaign against her.”
“Trump should not be allowed to politicize the federal government against elected officials,” he wrote.
Trump has frequently criticized Omar, including spreading the idea that she had married her brother to conduct immigration fraud. No federal agency has produced evidence of those claims, and Omar, who was born in Somalia and immigrated to the U.S. as a child, has called them “disgusting lies.”
Her office has not responded to a request for comment on the search.
White House border czar Tom Homan said last month that Omar was subject to an “ongoing criminal investigation,” and he told Fox News on Monday that a search warrant had been executed in an investigation led by the Justice Department.
“There is an investigation, a warrant was served,” he said, adding that he “didn’t want to get ahead of Todd Blanche.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois) called the search an effort to “target and persecute” Omar.
“We must strip them of their weapons. We must dismantle DHS. I stand in solidarity with Omar and every member of our community persecuted by the Trump administration,” she wrote on social media.
Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore wrote that the Trump administration was continuing to “demolish democratic norms and abuse the power of the federal government” by searching Omar’s home.
In a direct-to-camera video posted on social media, Rep. Ro Khanna urged Americans to “stand up and speak out.”
“It is simply chilling that they are targeting political opponents in this way, and it is disturbing that they are targeting Muslim Americans and a Muslim American woman legislator,” the California Democrat said.
This article has been updated with additional comments.
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