A senior immigration figure in Donald Trump’s circle has reignited long-running allegations against Rep. Ilhan Omar, claiming an internal review concluded that the Minnesota Democrat “married her brother” and suggesting she could potentially face deportation.
“We know that she married her brother to try to bring him into the United States,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, referring to Omar. “We know he lives now in London.”
Mullin appeared to be referring to Omar’s second husband, identified in prior reporting by Our News Outlet as Ahmed Elmi. Omar and Elmi are both originally from Somalia.
According to accounts previously relayed to Our News Outlet by people described as friends of the congresswoman, Omar was allegedly still married to her first husband, Ahmed Hirsi, when she entered into the second marriage.
Omar has repeatedly rejected the claims. She later married for a third time and is currently wed to political consultant Tim Mynett.
Speaking with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Mullin characterized the alleged conduct as “possible illegal activity” and said the inquiry remains “ongoing” — an unusually public remark, as officials generally avoid discussing active investigations.
“We’re investigating,” Mullin said, before raising the possibility of deportation if investigators determine such a severe step is justified.
“There’s no expiration to that,” he said when discussing potential charges. “If we can prove it that, maybe you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we’ll deport you.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said an ongoing department investigation found that Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar “married her brother to try to bring him into the United States.”
Omar has consistently denied claims that she married Elmi, pictured above.
Mullin’s comments seemed to point toward allegations involving falsified immigration paperwork, an issue that can carry deportation consequences. Any such effort, however, could be legally complicated by the fact that Omar became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000 at age 17.
Omar’s office did not immediately respond to Our News Outlet’s request for comment regarding Mullin’s latest allegations.
Abdihakim Osman, a past friend of Omar, told the Mail in 2020 that Omar said she wanted to get her brother papers so he could stay in the United States, at a time when she was married to her first husband Ahmed Hirsi.
But hardly anyone realized that meant marrying him.
‘No one knew there had been a wedding until the media turned up the marriage certificate years later,’ Osman exclusively told Daily Mail at the time.
Omar married her first husband, Hirsi, in 2002 in a Muslim ceremony that, like many in the immigrant community, was not registered with the state.
The first report that Omar and her husband were siblings appeared on the website Somalispot in 2016.
It said of Elmi: ‘As soon as Ilhan Omar married him he started university at her alma mater North Dakota State University where he graduated in 2012.’
Omar (left) is pictured here with her second husband and ‘brother’ Elmi (right)
Omar with her current husband Tim Mynett at a White House event in 2024
Mullin said the investigation into Omar is apolitical despite the congresswoman being a longtime target of Trump. He’s posted about her in derogatory ways dozens of times on social media, and he’s pushed to have her investigated.
‘When we move forward,’ Mullin said as if the case against Omar is imminent, ‘it’s not political.’
The Department of Homeland Security office did not deny Mullin’s claims that Omar did indeed marry her brother.
‘As a matter of policy, DHS does not comment on specific investigative techniques, ongoing investigations, or potential future actions,’ a spokesperson said, seemingly coming at odds with Mullin’s disclosure.
‘No one, including members of Congress, are above the law,’ the spokesperson added.
