Rep. Ilhan Omar said she is moving out of her Washington, D.C., home after federal agents raided the residence earlier this month.
The Minnesota Democrat, who has faced multiple death threats, told MS Now on Wednesday that she can’t “continue to live there. … So we have to figure out where to move to because our address has been public.”
Omar recounted the raid, which took place on Oct. 12, for the first time in her interview with Chris Hayes. The government said the search was part of an “ongoing federal criminal investigation,” which officials suggested was related to immigration; it has not provided evidence of immigration fraud.
Omar said she was awakened at 6 a.m. to the sound of federal agents banging on her front door. She said she initially thought there was an urgent evacuation happening throughout her neighborhood due to a potential fire.
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Omar was at the home with her husband and 20-year-old son, she said.
Her husband answered the door and saw 15 to 25 Homeland Security Investigations agents standing in front of his home, Omar said.
“That’s immigration. That’s trafficking. That’s drugs,” Omar said of the agents assembled. “The fact that they were at my house that early in the morning was so bizarre.”
Omar said agents wanted her to waive her immunity as a member of Congress. She said the agents spent four to five hours going room by room and took 17 items, including several phones, one of which belonged to her youngest daughter. They also took an antique camera that had been gifted to her husband and a Somali-language book for children, she said.
Omar said she asked the agents if they had a search warrant, which they handed over. Omar said that the warrant was specifically for electronics.
“I think ultimately, their goal is to intimidate and scare people from wanting to participate and vote,” she said.
Omar said she takes the Trump administration’s threats to prosecute or denaturalize her “very seriously.” Omar moved to the U.S. from Somalia when she was 12 years old.
“It would be a huge undertaking to, I suppose, indict a 12-year-old for being so cleverly conspiring to defraud immigration services to come to the United States,” she said.
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