WASHINGTON — Court documents filed in a legal dispute between federal prosecutors and news organizations suggest that the search warrant executed at “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home may not yet have been fully completed.
Federal agents carried out the search shortly before dawn on Oct. 12 at Omar’s home in Washington, DC, as part of an investigation into her immigration history. The raid came less than a month before the Nov. 3 election.
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro cited the warrant’s incomplete status in asking the court to keep related records sealed from multiple media organizations.
“[G]ood cause exists to extend these deadlines until after the subject search warrant has been fully executed,” Pirro and her team wrote in a court filing Wednesday.
The filing did not specify which parts of the warrant remain outstanding or indicate when authorities expect the search to be finished.
More than a dozen media organizations petitioned the US District Court for the District of Columbia last Thursday for access to the warrant records amid intense scrutiny of the investigation involving Omar.
The documents also offer a clue about the federal investigation’s interest in Omar’s former marriage. They identify the congresswoman using the alias “Nur Said Elmi,” referencing her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
Little public information is available about Elmi. However, a Somali forum speculated—without providing proof—that he was Omar’s brother and that the marriage was arranged for immigration purposes.
In a 2016 statement, Omar said she had applied for a marriage license with another former partner, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, in 2002, when she was 19. She said they “never finalized the application and thus were never legally married.”
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Omar later married Hirsi in 2018, and the couple divorced the following year.
Between those relationships, Omar was legally married to Elmi from 2009 through 2017. She said they had separated “in our faith tradition” in 2011, but that the legal paperwork was not completed until years later.
Omar has repeatedly denied the unsubstantiated claim that Elmi was her brother. The theory alleges that the marriage was intended to help him obtain a green card, but that effort ultimately failed.
Omar has described the allegation as “insane” and dismissed it as a right-wing conspiracy.
Asked whether she had any biological relationship with Elmi, Omar gave a qualified response to MS NOW: “Not to my knowledge.”
“I don’t think that [US Attorneys] would make up names,” Blanche told reporters Thursday when asked why the alias “Nur Said Elmi” appeared in the documents.
The Post previously reported that federal investigators possess DNA evidence they believe could establish whether Omar committed immigration fraud. One source said the evidence might also indicate that Elmi was her brother.
The search of Omar’s home is believed to be connected to documents she submitted while seeking US citizenship. Born in Somalia, Omar arrived in the United States as a refugee in the mid-1990s. Her age was listed as 17 when her father became a US citizen in 2000.
Because she was listed as younger than 18, Omar obtained citizenship through that process. The investigation is reportedly examining whether she was actually 18 when the paperwork was filed.
Omar has denied any wrongdoing and accused the Trump administration of using the legal system against her for political purposes.
